THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF 
PROVINCIAL  PENNSYLVANIA 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

KBW  YORK    •    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO  •    DAIXAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MBLBOURNB 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ln 

TORONTO 


POLITICAL  LEADERS 


OF 


PROVINCIAL  PENNSYLVANIA 


BY 

ISAAC   SHARPLESS 

PBESrOKKT  OF  Hatbbford  Collbob,  1887-1917 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1919 

AU  righU  reterved 


^007:  ■; 


Copyright,  1919, 

Bt  the  macmillan  company 


Printed  from  type.      Published  April,  1919. 


NotfDOOtl  IfitOB 

3.  8.  Cushinif  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Oo. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO 

%,  (X.  S. 


■-    \  ^^ 


PREFACE 

The  names  of  the  Quaker  politicians  in  this  book  have 
been  selected  with  the  view  of  showing  the  applicability 
(or  otherwise)  to  the  practical  affairs  of  government  of  the 
principles  which  to  some  extent  ruled  their  lives. 

That  they  were  all,  from  William  Penn  down,  more  or 
less  of  idealists,  is  a  fact  of  which  they  themselves  were 
very  conscious.  As  all  idealistic  attempts  have  their  les- 
sons either  of  adoption  or  avoidance,  this  one  may  be  worth 
recording. 

As  a  whole  the  experiment  succeeded.  As  in  politics  in 
general  there  was  temporizing.  Their  anti-martial  views 
were  the  most  difficult  to  apply  consistently  and  finally 
were  the  cause  of  their  abstention  from  public  affairs;  but 
there  are  interesting  deductions  to  be  drawn  both  from  the 
threescore  years  of  success  and  the  ultimate  break-down. 
Their  ideas  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  their  treatment 
of  the  Indians,  their  penal  and  hospital  systems,  the  large 
material  growth  which  accompanied  their  management,  and 
the  general  tone  of  their  public  life  afford  a  basis  of  a 
favorable  judgment  upon  their  experiment. 

The  religious  leaders  of  Friends  have  received  ample  rec- 
ognition in  print.  Something,  however,  is  still  due  to  these 
practical  men  who  wrought  with  such  devotion  in  working 
out  the  principles  of  the  "Holy  Experiment." 

Haverford,  Pa. 
1919. 

vii 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Introduction 1 

William  Penn 21 

Thomas  Lloyd 55 

David  Lloyd 84 

James  Logan 114 

John  Kinset 155 

Isaac  Norris 181 

James  Pemberton 200 

John  Dickinson 224 


POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PROVINCIAL 
PENNSYLVANIA 

INTRODUCTION 

A  ROUGH  classification  might  divide  ethical  standards 
into  two  groups.  One  is  based  on  results,  the  other  on 
principles.  The  first  is  the  favorite  method  of  the  poli- 
tician, the  man  on  the  street  and  on  the  farm.  If  a  thing 
produces  good,  it  is  good  in  itself;  if  evil,  evil.  A  method 
of  action,  a  piece  of  legislation  is  to  be  justified  or  con- 
demned by  the  consequences  which  follow  it.  In  ordinary 
affairs  not  involving  moral  considerations  this  sort  of  judg- 
ment is  universal.  Business  decisions  are  wise  or  unwise 
according  as  they  prosper.  Fiscal  legislation  is  ordinarily 
decided,  not  by  eternal  principles  of  political  science,  but 
by  results  as  shown  by  history  and  experience  which  fol- 
lowed similar  legislation  in  the  past  and  are  likely  to  follow 
it  in  the  future.  Perhaps  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  acts 
of  legislatures  are  determined  by  such  considerations. 

Philosophers  codify  these  methods  and  variously  call 
themselves  hedonists,  utilitarians,  pragmatists  and  so  on, 
as  they  vary  the  theories  to  suit  the  conditions  of  the  age 
or  country. 

If  one  could  see  all  the  results  nothing  could  be  better. 
But  the  wisest  of  philosophers  can  only  see  a  little  way 
ahead  and  the  shrewdest  of  politicians  and  business  men 
have  a  limited  horizon.    What  is  manifestly  useful  to  a 


2        POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

few  people  immediately  affected  may  not  be  for  a  more 
distant  future  or  a  wider  circle.  The  primary  results  may 
seem  highly  beneficial  but  those  which  result  from  these, 
unseen  by  the  performers,  may  be  disastrous. 

The  other  sort  of  standard  is  based  on  something  sup- 
posedly more  fundamental.  According  to  this  when  it 
comes  to  decisions  involving  the  moral  idea  there  is  no  room 
for  a  consideration  of  consequences.  Things  are  inherently 
right  or  wrong.  One  must  be  guided  by  what  is  called  the 
moral  law.  If  we  can  ascertain  this  as  applied  to  the  case 
human  duty  is  determined.  It  may  lead  apparently  into 
all  sorts  of  pitfalls  and  failures  but  in  the  long  run  it  will 
prove  a  safe  guide.  In  the  eternal  plans  of  a  Divine  Ruler 
of  the  universe  that  which  seems  inexpedient  to  us  may  be 
of  the  highest  expediency;  our  very  failures  may  be  the 
means  to  the  greatest  success.  The  real  good  is  the  per- 
manent, abiding,  satisfactory  result  which  comes  by  the 
operation  of  all  the  many  factors  and  forces  producing  it, 
too  various  and  too  hidden  for  human  ascertainment,  but 
which  are  all  parts  of  one  great  plan.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
individual  not  to  mar  this  plan.  If  he  knows  what  his 
part  is,  small  or  great,  resulting  to  himself  as  it  will  in  loss 
or  gain,  resulting  to  others  apparently  for  material  good  or 
ill,  he  performs  it  faithfully,  and  concerns  not  himself 
greatly  with  what  follows.  His  conscience  or  judgment 
determines  his  course  and  that  is  all  there  is  to  it. 

But  how  is  the  man  who  takes  this  attitude  to  find  what 
this  moral  law  is?  How  is  his  conscience  or  judgment  to 
be  enlightened?  There  are  quite  as  many  philosophic 
views  on  this  question  as  in  the  field  of  utility.  Men  base 
the  standards  of  rectitude  on  reason,  on  intuition,  or  reve- 
lation, or  on  authority  human  or  divine,  and  deduce  a  code 
of  conduct  which  satisfies  the  argument.  Sometimes  it  is 
expressed  in  the  sacred  books  of  their  religion,  sometimes  it 


INTRODUCTION  3 

comes  to  them  directly  as  the  expressed  will  of  their  Deity 
felt  in  their  consciences,  sometimes  as  the  logical  result  of 
their  rational  processes. 

The  standard  Friends  of  the  past  have  belonged  to  this 
second  class.    When  their  duty  was  made  known  to  them 
they  were  not  disturbed  by  results.    So  they  went  to  jail 
or  to  death  for  a  conviction  which  often  seemed  trivial  or 
foolish  to  others,  rather  than  abate  an  item  of  it.     If  one^ 
argued  with  them  that  their  liberty  might  do  more  for  their, 
cause  than  the  small  testimony,  the  argument  fell  on  deaf  ■ 
ears.     That  testimony  was  their  present  duty  and  all  the 
rewards  of  disobedience,  all  the  plausible  considerations  of 
results,  had  no  bearing  on  the  case.    One  and  all  the  Friends- 
of  the  first  generations  and  the  typical  Friends  which  fol-. 
lowed  them  were  never  utilitarian. 

But  the  interesting  fact  remains  that  though  they  thus 
ignored  results  they  got  them.  Their  policy  or,  as  it  often 
seemed,  lack  of  policy,  secured  consequences.  They  re- 
ceived religious  liberty  earlier  and  more  fully  than  the  tem- 
porizing sects.  They  had  their  marriage  regulations  made 
legal;  they  were  allowed  to  affirm  rather  than  to  swear; 
much  respect  was  paid  to  their  anti-martial  views;  they 
effected  reforms  in  the  jails  and  asylums  of  England  and 
America,  and  their  treatment  of  aborigines  and  its  conse- 
quences has  become  historic. 

There  are  many  reasons  for  saying  that  fidelity  to  right 
in  the  face  of  seeming  disaster  works  better  than  any  one 
expects.  There  are  many  facts  of  history  which  show  that 
men  and  nations  do  get  along,  when  they  follow  the  right, 
in  a  way  which  no  one  could  have  foreseen.  There  is  some 
inherent  vitality  in  the  truth  which  makes  its  own  way,  or 
has  a  way  made  for  it. 

The  Friends  have  abstained  often  in  the  past,  from  the 
activities  of  politics  and  of  government.     Their  thoughts 


4        POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

have  been  so  pervaded  with  the  idea  that  immoral  acts 
camiot  be  made  moral  by  the  beneficent  consequences  which 
seem  likely  to  result,  that  they  become  ineflficient  in  the 
work  of  practical  politics  as  it  sometimes  exists.  When 
they  swallow  their  scruples  they  cease  to  be  in  harmony 
with  the  Friends'  position  and  lose  their  standing  in  the 
church.  Hence  we  have  frequently  found  that  those  mem- 
bers who  have  become  active  in  political  life  have  been  on 
the  fringe  of  the  Meeting  rather  than,  as  they  were  in  early 
Pennsylvania,  the  trusted  ministers  and  officials,  whose 
state  duties  bore  on  their  consciences  no  less  rigorously 
than  their  ecclesiastical  duties,  but  who  would  sacrifice 
either  rather  than  violate  an  apprehended  moral  obligation. 

Good  seems  to  come  from  the  chicanery  of  politics  no  less 
certainly  than  from  war.  Out  of  the  selfishness,  the  venal- 
ity, the  immoral  strategy''  of  the  presidential  conventions 
has  come  the  greatest  line  of  rulers  any  country  has  ever 
seen  in  any  age.  From  the  days  when  Hamilton  traded 
off  with  Jefferson  the  location  of  the  capital  city  for  the  fund- 
ing of  the  state  bonds,  in  the  first  Congress  down  to  the 
days  of  the  last  Congress,  many  measures  yielding  valuable 
results  have  come  as  the  results  of  bargains  not  always  hon- 
orable or  moral.  Every  legislator  knows  that  in  order  to 
have  a  good  measure  passed  it  often  seems  necessary  to 
support  others  who  want  bad  measures  passed,  and  the 
perfectly  independent  man  who  yields  nothing  in  this  way 
is  hardly  efficacious  in  the  councils  or  acceptable  to  his 
constituents.  To  do  evil  that  selfish  projects  may  succeed 
and  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come  are  the  lines  that  have 
too  frequently  distinguished  the  evil  from  the  good  legis- 
lator. 

The  principles  which  have  been  the  keynote  of  Quaker 
morality  and  those  which  define  the  average  morality  of  the 
politician  even  of  the  better  sort  are  widely  apart.     The 


INTRODUCTION  5 

one  is  idealistic,  the  other  utilitarian.  The  one  has  never 
been  able  to  convert  the  other  to  the  theory  that  idealism  in 
the  long  run  is  of  the  highest  utility,  and  the  other  has  had 
no  faith  in  any  principle  whose  utility  he  cannot  grasp  as 
likely  to  ripen  in  the  very  near  future. 

To  this  extent  we  can  sympathize  with  the  abstention  of 
Friends  from  politics.  If  a  state  is  dominated  by  an  unholy 
machine  which  allows  no  one  in  office  except  obedient 
henchmen,  who  must  be  without  scruple  or  independent 
character,  then  "  the  post  of  honor  is  the  private  station." 
There  may  be  a  place  for  them  in  the  ranks  of  the  militant 
reformers,  but  hardly  in  official  life. 

Through  all  the  years  covered  by  this  volume  there  was 
growing  up,  basing  itself  on  George  Fox's  advice  to  keep 
clear  of  the  "  Commotions  "  involved  in  government,  a  feel- 
ing that  Friends  should  take  no  part  in  public  life.  Their 
course  in  the  Revolution,  which  had  involved  the  disown- 
ment  of  some  400  members  for  participation  in  the  warlike 
affairs  of  the  day,  mainly  on  the  American  side,  made  them 
unpopular.  They  withdrew  into  a  more  mystical  life  and 
an  uncompromising  devotion  to  principle  and  testimony, 
and  the  Quaker  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  evolved. 

This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  application  of  a 
Quaker  conscience  to  state  affairs  in  a  non-Quaker  com- 
munity is  impossible. 

Probably  conditions  will  never  be  better  than  in  Colonial 
Pennsylvania,  and  there  it  broke  down,  after  70  years' 
trial,  though  at  first  against  the  popular  will,  in  the  face  of 
apparent  political  necessity. 

But  it  does  not  prove  that  Friends  may  not  accept  many 
posts  in  government,  both  executive  and  legislative,  which 
need  not  touch  on  their  convictions  and  in  which  they  may 
render  signal  service. 

They  may  also  bring  the  attention  of  a  nation  to  the 


6        POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

moral  issues  of  the  day,  a  task  for  which  Friends  with  the 
ancient  sort  of  standards  would  seem  to  have  great  ad- 
vantages. 

It  tones  up  the  nation  to  have  its  thoughts  turned  to  eth- 
ical, rather  than  exclusively  economic  subjects.  One  moral 
question  brings  another  in  its  train  and  men  get  to  think- 
ing in  terms  of  right  and  wrong  rather  than  expedient  and 
opportune.  In  the  decade  prior  to  our  Civil  War  when  men 
were  fused  together  on  the  subject  of  the  rights  of  man,  and 
used  such  phrases  as  "  the  higher  law,"  "  the  irrepressible 
conflict,"  "  the  true  grandeur  of  nations,"  there  was  a  mani- 
fest raising  of  standards.  Then  came  the  war  and  the 
host  of  questions  of  currency,  tariff,  revenue,  and  material 
issues  generally,  which  divided  parties  in  the  succeeding 
years,  and  morality  took  the  second  place  to  economics  and 
men  thought  in  dollars  rather  than  in  righteousness.  We 
had  a  great  growth  in  wealth  and  all  its  unhealthy  accom- 
paniments of  monopolies,  corporate  interference  with  gov- 
ernment and  boss  and  machine  rule  in  politics.  Later  the 
moral  sense  of  the  nation  reasserted  itself  and  the  develop- 
ment of  attention  to  human  rights  and  the  social  conscience, 
and  to  specific  matters  like  temperance  and  peace  and  civil 
service  reform,  went  on  apace.  It  is  one  of  the  great  evils 
of  war  that  it  draws  the  interests  of  men  from  such  move- 
ments, to  the  more  pressing  but  less  vital  ones  of  national 
defense,  sources  of  national  income,  reduction  of  national 
expenditure  for  social  development,  and  all  the  lesser  breed 
which  designing  politicians  take  advantage  of  to  press 
their  own  selfish  designs  for  office  and  emolument.  Some 
beneficent  reforms  which  need  advertising  to  make  people 
appreciate  them  are  thrust  aside  by  the  insistence  on  the 
more  spectacular  national  needs,  and  the  wholesome  dis- 
cussion of  moral  and  political  reform  in  a  democracy  is 
impeded.     For  this  discussion  under  normal  conditions  is 


INTRODUCTION  7 

the  very  lifeblood  of  progress.  The  American  nation  will 
not  get  far  astray  if  its  attention  can  be  seriously  turned  to 
a  great  issue  and  a  great  need.  How  quickly  when  it  once 
grasped  the  dangers  of  corporation  control  of  politics,  with 
many  blundering  and  foolish  steps,  it  is  true,  it  improved 
the  situation.  Free  discussion  and  the  honest  purposes  of 
an  intelligent  electorate  can  be  depended  on  to  clear  av/ay 
any  heresy  before  it  reaches  the  stage  of  serious  danger  to 
the  national  soul. 

But  morality  must  have  the  right  of  way,  and  while 
matters  in  which  the  economic  rather  than  the  moral  pre- 
dominate should  have  their  large  place  in  national  councils 
and  public  discussions,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  with 
influence  in  public  life  to  press  to  the  front  the  great  abid- 
ing projects  which  have  their  root  in  eternal  right,  and  here 
Quaker  traditions  and  principles  should  make  a  preposses- 
sion in  favor  of  such  a  course  of  action. 

There  are  a  number  of  reforms  which  have  been  their 
concerns  very  largely  in  the  past.  The  substitution  of  life 
imprisonment  for  capital  punishment,  the  development  of 
the  reformatory  idea  in  prisons  and  kindly  treatment  in 
asylums,  the  one-price  system  in  sales,  the  limitation  of 
fortunes  and  expenditures  within  moderate  dimensions, 
theories  of  education  which  are  at  once  practical  and  spir- 
itual, the  rigidly  honest  management  of  public  funds,  all  of 
these,  in  which  good  men  generally  would  join,  have  some 
of  their  roots  in  legislation,  and  if  not  national  party  issues, 
not  infrequently  become  the  issues  in  State  or  local  elec- 
tions or  legislation. 

Then  there  is  the  great  question  of  warlike  preparation 
and  policy.  This  is  the  rock  on  which  Quaker  participa- 
tion in  politics  has  usually  been  shipwrecked.  It  broke 
its  control  in  provincial  Pennsylvania.  It  drove  the 
Society  back  into  itself  in  the  Revolutionary  War  and  pro- 


8        POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

duced  an  inwardness  from  which  it  has  only  in  the  last  half 
century  evolved.  It  forced  John  Bright  from  the  British 
Cabinet  when  Alexandria  was  bombarded.  It  caused  the 
breaking  of  the  property  of  Joshua  Rowntree  in  the  Boer 
War.  It  has  sent  many  a  conscientious  sufferer  to  jail 
rather  than  pay  military  fines  or  join  in  military  exercises. 
In  wartime  it  operates  to  render  pacifists  objects  of  un- 
popularity among  a  great  host  of  men,  some  unthinking  and 
hysterical,  some  seriously  concerned  for  the  national  safety. 

Here  is  the  great  problem  of  to-day  for  the  Christian 
statesman  who  can  maintain  himself  conscientiously  in  pub- 
lic life.  He  needs  to  show  the  nation  that  an  aggressive 
policy  of  goodwill,  the  absence  of  all  design  on  the  integ- 
rity or  interests  of  others,  the  rigid  and  even  generous 
enforcement  of  all  treaties  and  conventions,  the  full  com- 
prehension of  and  respect  for  the  points  of  view  and 
political  and  commercial  interests  of  others,  are  worth  more 
in  maintaining  peace  than  dreadnoughts  or  submarines, 
coast  defences  or  standing  armies.  Had  we  the  greatest 
armaments  in  the  world,  which  after  the  expenditure  of 
billions  of  dollars  and  years  of  times  we  might  have,  with 
all  the  military  spirit  and  commercial  interests  necessarily 
developed  by  such  an  aggregation,  who  could  trust  the 
nation  not  to  enter  with  slight  provocation  upon  a  career  of 
conquests  or  overbearing  treatment  in  the  cause  of  merce- 
nary or  political  interests!  The  danger  of  foreign  aggres- 
sion upon  a  nation  doing  its  generous  part  in  world  diplo- 
macy, upon  whose  goodwill  the  commercial  prosperity  of 
all  others  was  largely  dependent,  is  far  less  than  the 
danger,  under  the  guise  of  preparedness,  of  creating  a  spirit 
of  militarism,  which  will  break  down  our  Christian  stand- 
ards and  lead  on  to  a  cataclysm  such  as  a  similar  spirit  has 
developed  in  Europe. 

The  ideal  Friend  stands  for  the  development  of  person- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

ality.  For  this  he  can  not  go  to  war,  for  this  involves  the 
subordination  of  personality  to  human  commands,  doing 
evil  that  good  may  come,  the  merging  of  the  individual  con- 
science into  the  conscience  of  the  mass.  He  can  not  swear 
for  his  every  word  has  the  sanction  of  truth  behind  it.  He 
can  not  be  an  unquestioning  member  of  a  political  group 
taking  on  or  leaving  off  principle  at  the  behest  of  a  leader  or 
of  utilitarian  considerations.  He  can  not  grind  the  poor  in 
business  or  the  criminal  in  jail,  for  the  respect  for  his  own 
personality  induces  respect  for  that  of  others.  He  must 
go  through  life  more  or  less  isolated,  not  from  lack  of  sym- 
pathy for  others,  for  he  ought  to  have  this  in  the  highest 
degree,  but  because  the  machinery  of  modern  methods  is 
too  rigid  for  his  open-minded  and  independent  soul.  He 
will  take  his  orders  from  his  own  discerning  heart  rather 
than  from  current  opinion  or  popular  impulse.  "  The 
method  of  Christianity  does  not  lend  itself  to  those  accom- 
modations and  compromises  without  which  nothing  can  be 
done  in  politics." 

If  he  can  do  all  this  and  still  be  an  effective  public  serv- 
ant, as  an  exceptional  man  in  an  exceptional  place  may  be, 
the  Quaker  in  politics  may  live.  If  not  he  will  sacrifice 
place  to  conscience,  expediency  to  principle. 

These  pages  will  show  to  what  extent  the  prominent 
agents  in  carrying  Friendly  principles  into  effect  in  the 
politics  of  provincial  Pennsylvania  accomplished  their 
purposes.  In  varying  degrees  their  public  careers  were 
mixtures  of  idealism  and  opportunism.  But  the  most 
"  practical  "  of  them  showed  some  effects  of  the  spirit  of 
Quaker  teaching,  which  modified  their  actions,  and  cut  out 
lines  of  effort  which  promised  valuable  results. 

In  the  application  of  certain  principles  they  were  pioneers. 
Their  experiments  have  been  justified  by  the  results  which 
followed.    No  other  founder  than  William  Penn,  except  on 


10      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

a  smaller  scale  Roger  Williams,  adhered  more  generously 
to  the  ideas  of  religious  and  civil  liberty  and  the  separation 
of  church  and  state.  His  followers  proved  the  utility  as 
well  as  ideal  rectitude  of  the  principle  and  prospered  greatly 
as  a  result.  No  other  colony  treated  the  natives  so  justly 
or  reaped  so  much  peace  and  healthy  development  or  drew 
in  as  a  consequence  settlers  and  wealth  so  rapidly.  Their 
position  with  regard  to  oaths,  which  they  adhered  to  tena- 
ciously, has  been  illustrated  by  recent  tendencies  which  show 
at  least  that  the  aflfirmation  is  equally  effective  in  securing 
veracity  and  fidelity  to  duty.  Their  early  penal  system, 
excepting  their  unfortunate  lapse  in  the  matter  of  capital 
punishment  for  minor  crimes,  was  governed  by  the  ideas  of 
reformation  and  leniency  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  the  best 
modern  methods.  They  were  a  century  ahead  of  their  time 
in  seeing  the  evil  of  lotteries,  and  prohibiting  them.  In  an 
age  when  piracy  and  prize  goods  were  common  they  bore 
an  unflinching  testimony  against  them  in  all  forms.  The 
colonial  Quakers  took  an  ever  developing  part  against  the 
slave  trade  and  slavery  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  pub- 
lic sentiment  which  made  Pennsylvania  the  first  state  of 
the  Union  to  pass  an  abolition  law.  They  had  the  institu- 
tion nearly  exterminated  in  the  north  when  the  Federal 
Constitution  was  adopted.  John  Woolman,  Anthony  Ben- 
ezet  and  their  friends  keeping  on  moral  grounds  rather  than 
economic  were  ceaseless  in  urging  the  fact  that  property  in 
man  violated  inherent  right  and  Christian  principle. 

Their  position  with  regard  to  war  seems  not  to  have  been 
indorsed  by  the  general  practice  of  the  future.  Its  essen- 
tial cruelty  and  immorality  are  by  most  people,  including 
Christian  ministers,  justified  by  the  necessities  of  the  case 
and  the  misfortunes  which  would  seem  to  result  from  its 
abandonment.  All  recognize  its  evils  and  long  for  its  aboli- 
tion but  find  in  concrete  cases  good  reasons  for  adopting  it 


INTRODUCTION  ii 

as  the  least  of  the  possible  evils.  They  do  not  see  as  the 
Friends  thought  they  saw  that  the  best  thing  to  do,  is  to 
avoid  any  participation  in  it  as  a  wrong  thing  in  itself  and 
to  trust  that  somehow  in  the  long  run  the  right  would 
justify  itself.  This  view  may  yet  triumph  but  writing  in 
the  midst  of  the  Great  War  when  all  Christian  bodies  except 
the  Friends  and  a  few  other  of  the  smaller  sects  alone  take 
this  position,  one  can  not  fail  to  see  that  murder  and  maim- 
ing and  violation  of  human  rights  of  all  kinds  do  not  seem 
reprehensible  in  the  settlement  of  national  affairs  as  they 
are  fully  recognized  to  be  in  personal  differences.  Possibly 
the  near  future  will  tell  a  different  story. 

Why  were  Friends  able  to  do  even  this  much  of  pioneer 
work  in  social  and  moral  reform,  for  in  England  they  could 
give  an  equally  good  account  of  themselves  under  less  free 
and  easy  circumstances? 

It  was  not  because  of  superior  intelligence  or  education 
though  these  had  doubtless  their  effects  with  the  leaders  of 
the  movement.  As  a  whole  they  were  not  highly  educated 
or  trained  in  social  or  ethical  learning.  It  was  not  because 
they  were  more  anxious  to  do  right  than  their  contempo- 
raries, for  many  of  all  bodies  had  motives  as  pure  and  con- 
sciences as  alert.  The  following  answers  to  the  question 
may  be  put  forward  tentatively. 

They  were  not  drawn  into  any  movement  which  promised 
spectacular  results  from  a  supernatural  agency. 

The  first  Christians  were  so  full  of  the  idea  of  the  early 
"  second  coming "  that  the  incentive  to  reform  did  not 
exist.  What  difference  did  any  amount  of  cruel  treatment 
make  to  a  slave,  any  inhumanities  of  government,  any  hor- 
rors of  warfare,  if  all  was  to  be  soon  set  right  and  a  uni- 
versal reign  of  righteousness  and  sinlessness  inaugurated 
by  a  Divine  Being,  who  would  come  independently  of 
anything  which  they  could  do,  their  duty  being  only  to 


12      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

prepare  themselves  inwardly  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
happy  fruits.  Paul  did  not  attack  slavery  or  war  or  graft 
as  institutions  but  preached  the  inner  rectitude  of  the  indi- 
vidual. His  followers  saw  in  this  inner  rectitude  not  so 
much  a  means  of  service  to  others  as  salvation  for  them- 
selves. This  it  is  true  lifted  men  above  the  plane  where 
the  worst  evils  were  possible  and  so  many  of  them  disap- 
peared, but  any  systematic  social  reconstruction  was  not 
preached.  As  Harnack  says,  "  The  Gospel  is  not  one  of 
social  improvement  but  of  spiritual  redemption." 

One  finds  nothing  of  this  appeal  to  such  a  catastrophic 
advent  in  the  writings  of  the  Early  Friends.  The  Bible 
passages  referring  to  it  were  applied  to  an  appearance  of 
the  Divine  spirit  to  individual  hearts,  leaving  them,  thus 
illuminated,  to  work  out  their  own  problems.  They  turned 
their  minds  inward  and  accepted  the  responsibility  of  their 
actions,  not  leaving  all  response  to  a  day  when  Christ  him- 
self would  set  matters  right.  They  looked  and  waited  for 
this  illumination.  Their  meetings  for  worship  were  not  for 
the  purpose  of  listening  to  music  or  sermons,  but  to  a  Di- 
vine voice  in  their  consciences.  When  this  told  them  an 
institution  was  out  of  harmony  with  God's  will  they  wanted 
no  other  evidence.  May  it  not  be  possible  that  they  had 
a  surer  support  for  their  social  work  than  the  most  of  us  are 
now  willing  to  admit? 

Nor  would  they  grant  that  any  such  a  task  was  impos- 
sible. Nothing  with  such  a  backing  could  be  hopeless. 
There  was  no  demonic  power  in  "  the  world  "  which  would 
not  succumb  in  time  to  a  quiet  attack,  faithful  to  death. 
With  hearts  open  to  influence  and  strengthened  by  a  "  will 
to  power  "  from  above,  each  one  was  to  do  his  duty  as  he 
saw  it  and  the  harvest  was  some  day  sure.  The  time  came 
in  the  history  of  the  Society  when  a  copy  of  the  first  testi- 
monies was  accepted  by  the  rank  and  file  too  slavishly,  but 


INTRODUCTION  13 

by  this  time  the  testimonies  themselves  had  become  tradi- 
tions and  the  body  remained  true  to  them,  while  there 
were  always  some  prophets  open  to  new  truths. 

Some  one  said  before  the  war  that  the  "  three  invin- 
cibles  "  were  the  Romish  Church,  the  German  Army  and 
the  Standard  Oil  Trust.  The  real  Quaker  of  the  olden 
time  would  have  said  that  these  three  would  all  fall  as  grain 
before  the  sickle  in  the  face  of  a  silent  assembly  responsive 
to  God's  spirit  if  out  of  harmony  with  it. 

The  same  attitude  of  mind  which  looked  for  the  second 
advent  in  early  Christian  times  is  produced  by  dependence 
upon  the  spasmodic  "  revivals  "  of  modern  date  to  main- 
tain the  spiritual  life.  During  the  intervals  there  is  a  sag, 
and  a  comfortable  feeling  exists  that  it  will  be  made  all 
right  when  the  next  excitement  stirs  up  the  emotions.  The 
converts  are  content  not  only  for  themselves  but  for  others 
to  await  these  determining  issues  as  all-suflficient  rather 
than  to  engage  in  serious  and  intelligent  efforts  to  study  the 
causes  of  social  ills  and  apply  the  remedies. 

Through  the  centuries  the  preparation  for  the  next  world 
has  been  the  governing  purpose  of  Christianity.  After 
about  250  a.  d.  the  monastic  movement  beginning  in  the 
East,  borrowed  from  other  religions,  had  sway  over  the 
most  devoted  followers.  Its  purpose  was  a  desire  to  gain 
heaven  for  one's  self  rather  than  the  preparation  for  service 
in  this  world.  Its  ascetic  principle  led  to  the  subjection, 
not  the  upbuilding,  of  the  body,  the  elimination,  not  the 
proper  training,  of  useful  faculties.  The  more  one  tortured 
himself,  kept  apart  from  his  fellows,  subjugated  in  his  own 
person  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  the  more  sure  he 
was  of  eternal  reward.  If  by  such  means  he  could  perform 
miracles  of  healing  they  were  valuable  as  a  testimony  to  his 
own  holiness,  rathervthan  as  helping  his  more  sinful  neigh- 
bors.    Western  monasticism  was  more  practical  and  useful, 


14      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

though  hardly  less  ascetic.  But  its  motive  was  the  same  — 
otherworldliness  rather  than  unselfish  service.  This  still 
persists  but  happily  a  more  generous  view  of  the  utility  of 
goodness  now  often  prevails. 

Friends  to  some  extent  were  influenced  by  this  feeling. 
But  George  Fox  and  William  Penn  were  very  practical 
mystics  though  they  never  lost  the  hope  and  the  belief  in 
immortality.  But  it  seemed  to  them  to  come  as  a  natural 
reward  of  duty  done  on  earth  rather  than  as  something  to 
be  striven  for  in  itself.  As  Whittier,  the  greatest  of  modern 
Quaker  prophets,  has  said: 

"  So  to  the  calmly  gathered  thought 
The  innermost  of  truth  is  taught, 
The  mystery  dimly  understood 
That  love  of  God  is  love  of  good. 

That  to  be  saved  is  only  this 
Salvation  from  our  selfishness. 

•  ••••• 

That  book  and  church  and  day  are  given 
For  man  not  God,  —  for  earth  not  heaven; 
The  blessed  means  to  holiest  ends. 
Not  masters,  but  benignant  friends: 
That  the  dear  Christ  dwells  not  afar, 
The  king  of  some  remoter  star, 
Listening  at  times  with  flattered  ear, 
To  homage  wrung  from  selfish  fear, 
But  here  amidst  the  poor  and  blind, 
The  bound  and  suffering  of  our  kind, 
In  works  we  do,  in  prayers  we  pray. 
Life  of  our  life,  he  lives  to-day." 

Hence  their  obligations  were  never  dulled  by  a  feeling 
that  the  progress  of  humanity  was  of  less  importance  than 
their  own  freedom  from  penalty.  The  nether  world  was 
not  described  in  their  writings  in  the  lurid  pictures  else- 


INTRODUCTION  15 

where  seen.  The  punishment  they  preached  was  the  loss 
of  fellowship  with  the  Father;  their  Heaven  was  the  com- 
pleteness of  this  fellowship.  Salvation  came  with  a  re- 
deemed life,  a  salvation  from  sin  as  well  as  from  future 
punishment.  The  life  and  death  of  Christ  reproduced  in 
themselves,  with  them,  as  with  him,  sent  them  out  to  heal 
and  to  help  bodies  and  social  conditions.  The  ideal  Quaker 
of  the  John  Woolman  type  lived  a  life  of  close  communion, 
of  great  searching  of  motives,  of  intense  desire  for  purity 
of  heart,  but  for  the  sake  of  never  ending  helpfulness 
towards  the  worldly  as  well  as  the  spiritual  conditions  of 
others.  "  They  were  saved  men  themselves  before  they 
went  about  to  save  others  "  is  a  Quaker  classic.  The  inner 
religious  experience  was  the  basis  of  service.  Political  ' 
and  economic  considerations  were  secondary  though  help- 
ful. In  this  way  only  can  the  old  Quaker  conception  of 
inwardness  be  linked  with  the  modern  study  of  economic 
law  and  social  justice. 

They  preached  also  as  necessary  a  continuous  experience 
of  Divine  support  and  education.  It  was  not  merely  one 
or  a  series  of  spasmodic  influences,  renewable  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  individual,  and  independent  of  duty  performed 
in  the  intervals.  It  was  rather  a  consistent  spiritual  im- 
pulse, not  always  equally  strong,  which  condemned  every 
shortcoming  and  gave  its  peaceful  reward  to  e^^ery  faithful 
response  to  a  call  to  service;  which  was  clarified  and 
strengthened  by  obedience  and  exalted  by  fidelity.  So 
came  the  Quaker  conscience;  to  its  possessor  the  greatest 
thing  on  earth;  faulty  in  discovering  fully  absolute  truth, 
but  simply  another  way  of  saying  that  in  every  emergency 
of  life  a  man  must  do  the  best  he  knows  and  feels  and  omit 
a  calculation  of  consequences.  So  every  call  to  duty  no 
matter  how  slight  the  duty  might  be,  became  as  the  apple 
of  his  eye,  worth  loss,  worth  suffering,  worth  imprisonment, 


1 6      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANLA 

worth  death  itself.  His  grip  on  a  line  of  service  could  not 
be  shaken  off  by  threat  or  argument  but  he  would  persist 
with  quietness  and  confidence,  without  bravado,  "  with 
charity  for  all,  with  malice  toward  none,  with  firmness  in 
the  right  as  God  gave  him  to  see  the  right." 

A  statement  of  principles  should  be  but  a  cross  section 
of  a  developing  belief.  Like  all  human  institutions  it 
changes  with  time.  If  it  becomes  fixed  and  necessary  it 
becomes  a  creed  and  fetters  progress.  Men  must  conform 
their  mental  operations  to  its  meaning.  With  much  that 
is  true,  in  time  it  may  be  inadequate  or  erroneous.  It  may 
become  an  object  in  itself  and  all  movements  be  gauged 
by  the  efforts  for  its  maintenance.  Social  movements 
which  do  not  seem  to  conform  themselves  to  it,  are  judged 
adversely  by  its  standard,  itself  only  a  secondary  present- 
ment of  a  prior  belief.  This  is  true  whether  it  be  an  edict 
of  some  old  council,  or  a  collection  of  biblical  passages, 
stripped  of  their  context  and  real  meaning. 

There  never  was  a  Quaker  creed.  In  theory  at  least  the 
free  spirit  of  Christ  was  an  ever  new  source  of  revelation. 
There  were  no  Quaker  ordinances  essential  to  the  spiritual 
life.  The  way  was  open  for  changing  statements  and  sym- 
bols to  suit  advancing  thought.  It  was  not  necessary  to 
adopt  or  follow  any  ritual.  George  Fox  did  not  mean  at 
first  to  found  a  sect  but  to  infuse  a  certain  spirit  into  all 
Christian  believers.  It  is  true  that  crystallization  came 
in  time,  that  forms  supposedly  essential  were  developed  and 
that  doctrines  almost  credal  in  their  tendencies  became 
largely  prevalent.  The  dead  times  of  Quakerism  were 
those  when  the  spirit  and  personality  of  Christ  became  so 
merged  with  tradition  and  custom  and  fixed  belief  that  the 
freedom  to  progress  was  hindered.  But  it  was  never  quite 
lost. 

One  must  be  appreciative  of  the  fact  that  the  above  is 


INTRODUCTION  17 

rather  an  ideal,  than  an  actual  statement  of  Quaker  condi- 
tions; that  the  body  was  never  fully  permeated  with  the 
liberty  to  attack  moral  evils  and  appreciate  moral  truths 
at  their  real  value.  But  there  were  always  some  who  did 
so  appreciate  them  and  they  pointed  the  way.  But  clearly  or 
dimly  as  such  lights  were  seen  it  is  possible  that  they  were 
bright  enough  to  enable  the  Society  of  Friends  to  act  as 
efficient  precursors  of  certain  social  reforms;  which  gave 
them  a  sense  that  liberty  and  justice  and  peace  and  kindli- 
ness were  worth  striving  for,  and  which  showed  them  how  to 
work  wisely  and  effectively  for  a  religion  which  touched 
men's  lives  in  this  world  and  helped  bring  about  the  King- 
dom of  God  on  earth. 

They  lost  strength  at  times  by  the  prosperity  which  came 
with  respect  and  success;  by  theories  of  living  devoid  of 
experience ;  by  minimizing  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ ;  by  the 
use  of  forms  after  the  life  had  departed  from  them;  by 
neglecting  to  revise  their  testimonies  to  suit  new  conditions ; 
by  a  distrust  of  learning  and  the  experience  of  others.  Their 
weaknesses  and  their  strength  are  both  full  of  meaning.  The 
one  hindered  their  growth  and  influence,  the  other  has  kept 
them  alive,  even  when,  as  in  war  times,  they  have  run  coun- 
ter to  public  opinion  and  prevalent  Christian  sentiment. 

In  summarizing  the  sources  upon  which  the  early  Friends 
based  their  attitude  to  moral  reforms,  and  which  brought 
them  whatever  measure  of  success  they  had  the  following 
may  be  considered: 

1.  They  judged  questions  by  moral  principle  rather  than 
by  expediency. 

2.  They  depended  on  a  continuous  moral  education 
through  direct  Divine  agency  rather  than  on  spectacular 
displays  of  Divine  interference  for  which  they  were  not 
responsible,  to  set  things  right. 


1 8      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

3.  Their  religion  was  intended  to  be  practical  as  applied 
to  the  affairs  of  this  world  and  not  useful  only  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  the  next. 

4.  They  were  not  bound  by  a  closed  creed  or  tied  to  a 
ritual  which  prevented  adaptations  to  new  conditions  and 
new  revelations  of  truth. 

5.  They  were  willing  to  admit  the  supreme  authority  of 
the  New  Testament  in  its  spirit  and  methods. 

Many  are  sceptical  as  to  the  ability  of  a  minister  of  old 
time  "  to  speak  to  the  condition  "  of  an  individual  unknown 
to  himself  previously.  There  is  great  possibility  of  self- 
deception  but  there  seem  to  be  too  many  well  authenticated 
cases  to  doubt  the  reality  of  such  revelations.  One  is,  how- 
ever reassured  when  a  man  so  accustomed  to  weigh  histor- 
ical evidence  and  so  fair  and  open-minded  as  Dr.  Thomas 
Hodgkin,  himself  a  Quaker  minister,  writes  as  follows: 

"  And  though  I  have  heard  many  rambling  discourses 
which  showed  rather  the  desire  to  be  helpful  than  any  real 
power  of  helping  ...  I  am  on  the  other  hand  fully,  per- 
suaded that  in  many  cases,  a  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the 
congregation  or  of  some  individual  member  of  it,  which  was 
not  in  the  intellect  of  the  preacher  has  been  by  some  spir- 
itual process  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  explain,  but  which 
I  believe  to  be  God-guided,  conveyed  into  his  mind  during 
the  preparatory  time  of  silent  waiting  upon  God."  ^ 

And  again, 

"  Not  so  the  early  Friends.  It  was  surely  a  heaven  sent 
instinct  which  restrained  them  from  calling  the  Bible  the 
Word  of  God."  ^ 

Is  it  a  far  cry  to  extend  this  principle  from  individual 
to  group  illumination?  To  believe  that  when  a  company 
of  dedicated  souls  sitting  in  quiet  with  all  worldly  voices 

»  Life  of  T.  Hodgkin,  p.  333.  =  Ibid.  p.  340. 


INTRODUCTION  19 

and  desires  hushed,  unitedly  expecting  instruction  from 
above,  and  their  whole  being  attuned  to  its  reception  and 
awaiting  its  deliverance,  should  have  "  the  feeling  which  is 
evidence,"  that  their  community  duties  pointed  in  a  certain 
direction?  Is  there  not  historic  evidence  enough,  that  here 
is  a  factor, of  enlightenment  which  in  our  inquiries  towards 
the  ways  and  means  of  social  betterment  should  not  be  left 
out  of  account? 

We  may  assent  to  this,  but  in  modern  times  we  hardly 
practice  it,  when  we  talk,  for  instance,  of  social  justice  to 
the  wage  earner.  We  find  the  two  lines  of  argument  set 
against  each  other.  Our  ancestors  have  often  denied  the 
economic  reasonings  which  appeal  to  us;  also  our  ardent 
and  devoted  missionary  friends  tell  us  that  all  good  things 
will  follow  real  Christian  experience.  Many  workers,  on 
the  contrary,  say  that  laws  as  immutable  as  gravitation 
determine  sociological  conditions,  that  it  is  our  duty  to  find 
and  apply  them,  and  that  Christian  experience  has  nothing 
more  to  do  with  it  than  with  the  movements  of  the  planets. 
If  we  could  join  together  o'n  the  one  hand  the  sources  of 
enlightenment  which  seem  to  have  been  effective  with 
Friends  of  the  past,  and  on  the  other  the  modern  ideas  about 
the  reign  of  law  and  the  lessons  of  history  as  contributory 
and  influential,  such  a  union  would  be  irresistible. 


WILLIAM   PENN 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  give  even  in  broad 
outline  an  account  either  of  the  life  or  the  writings  of  Wil- 
liam Penn.  His  many  biographers  have  amply  attended 
to  the  former  and  the  latter  are  too  voluminous  and  dis- 
connected to  be  mentioned  even  by  title.  We  shall  confine 
ourselves  to  a  brief  estimate  of  his  character  and  abilities 
and  the  political  ideals  which  he  sought  to  introduce  into 
the  life  of  his  Province.  The  veneration  in  which  his  name 
was  held,  and  the  beneficent  results  of  his  policies  and 
principles  became  after  his  death,  most  intensively  within 
his  own  denomination  but  not  confined  to  it,  the  origin  of 
almost  too  great  a  reputation  for  sanctity  and  wisdom,  and 
leavened  the  life  of  the  province  throughout  its  whole  his- 
tory. 

His  biographers  have  copied  from  each  other  and  perhaps 
too  carelessly  accepted  tradition  as  to  some  events  which 
have  not  stood  the  test  of  closer  examination;  but  enough 
of  well  authenticated  facts,  letters  of  himself  and  judicious 
friends,  epistles  on  religion  and  government,  and  the  undis- 
puted actions  of  his  public  and  private  career,  exist  from 
which  to  frame  an  estimate  of  his  strength  and  his  weak- 
ness. 

Hepworth  Dixon  and  others  seem  to  have  effectually 
answered  Macaulay's  charges  to  his  discredit.  It  is  un- 
fortunate, however,  that  they  are  embalmed  in  that  his- 
torian's brilliant  style  and  perennially  interesting  volumes. 

20 


WILLIAM  PENN  21 

Where  a  score  read  the  attack  but  one  knows  of  the  defence, 
and  so  the  misstatements  will  for  ever  be  renewed  and  be- 
lieved. 

There  are,  however,  certain  weaknesses  of  Penn's  char- 
acter, not  seriously  discreditable  to  him,  but  which  detract 
something  from  the  universal  praise  often  accorded  him. 
He  was  a  poor  judge  of  character.  His  Deputy-Governors 
were  often  most  unfortunate  selections.  Blackwell,  an  old 
Cromwellian  soldier,  honest  and  moral,  had  no  appreciation 
of  the  Quaker  character  with  which  and  over  which  he  was 
to  govern.  He  was,  as  he  admitted,  "  unequally  yoked" 
and  "  unfeignedly  gave  thanks  to  God  "  when  he  was  re- 
called. Evans,  a  young  libertine,  swollen  with  a  puerile 
self-conceit,  offended  in  every  way  his  best  friends  and 
made  endless  troubles  for  Penn.  Gookin,  severe  and  un- 
yielding, with  a  stubbornness  lapsing  into  insanity,  was  an 
unquestioned  misfit.  The  better  judgment  of  Penn's  widow 
saved  the  day  for  the  family  after  this  succession  of  fail- 
ures. 

It  is  true  the  problem  was  a  hard  one.  A  Friend  would 
not  perform  the  duties  which  involved  certain  military 
declarations  and  offices;  these  they  were  quite  willing  that 
others  should  undertake,  but  against  them  their  own  con- 
sciences rebelled.  The  Deputy-Governor  must,  therefore, 
not  be  a  Friend.  He  must,  however,  be  acceptable  to  them, 
appreciating  their  spirit  and  respecting  their  scruples,  for 
by  virtue  both  of  numbers  and  character  they  controlled 
the  situation.  They  were  to  be  his  partners,  not  his  sub- 
ordinates, and  with  the  extravagant  idea  of  their  rights  and 
privileges  which  some  of  them  had,  they  were  no  easy  part- 
ners to  work  with.  The  ideal  Governor  must  not  only  be 
self-respecting,  but  tactful;  not  only  a  strict  moralist,  but 
tolerant  of  differing  standards;  not  only  faithful  to  Penn's 
interests,  but  appreciative  of  the  people's  liberties.     Not 


22      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

one  of  Penn's  choices,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Thomas 
Lloyd,  possessed  all  these  qualities,  and  bitterly  the  pro- 
prietor paid  the  price  of  his  poor  judgment  in  thirty  years 
of  governmental  confusion  and  financial  loss. 

The  account  of  Penn's  relations  to  his  knavish  steward 
is  not  pleasant  reading  for  his  friends.  Ford  was  a  Friend 
and  a  business  man  of  ability.  Penn  placed  all  his  affairs 
in  Ford's  hands  and  dismissed  his  care  of  them.  Full  of 
great  schemes  of  philanthropy,  his  influence  eagerly  sought 
for  suffering  Friends  and  suitors  of  all  kinds,  this  is  not  a 
matter  of  wonder.  But  when  the  fraudulent  nature  of 
Ford's  doings  was  known  to  Penn,  or  might  easily  have  been 
known,  he  still  allowed  matters  to  proceed,  heaping  up 
claims  till  the  province  became  mortgaged  and  his  friends 
had  infinite  difficulty  in  untangling  the  complicated  fraud. 
At  first  it  was  misplaced  confidence,  which  any  busy  man 
might  have  fallen  into.  Then  lest  the  plight  which  had 
happened  to  him  should  injure  the  Holy  Experiment,  he 
allowed  it  to  proceed  and  kept  it  quiet,  thus  piling  up  un- 
told suffering  and  trouble  and  a  term  in  the  debtor's  prison 
for  himself,  and  much  vexation  and  expense  for  his  friends 
which  an  earlier,  vigorous  exposure  might  have  avoided. 
There  was  nothing  dishonest  or  illiberal  in  his  course,  only 
a  suggestion  of  a  lack  of  downright  positiveness  in  extri- 
cating himself  honorably  from  an  unfortunate  position. 

The  question  of  military  resistance  was  the  great  dif- 
ficulty in  a  Quaker  state,  which  finally  wrought  the  political 
downfall  of  the  body  which  opposed  it.  Just  prior  to  the 
downfall,  the  Friends  had,  in  many  cases,  held  their  places 
by  pursuing  what  seems  like  a  doubtful  course,  going 
further  than  strict  consistency  would  approve.  Penn  him- 
self was  not  quite  clear  of  some  equivocation  in  the  matter. 
As  we  have  seen,  he  appointed  non-Quaker  deputies  to  per- 
form acts  which  he  and  no  other  Friend  would  consider 


WILLIAM  PENN  23 

consistent  with  their  profession;  to  "  be  stiff  with  our 
neighbours  upon  occasion  "  as  he  once  said. 

This  may  be  defensible,  for  liberty  of  the  individual  con- 
science was  their  great  claim.  But  when  Penn  recovered 
his  right  to  govern  his  province  in  1693,  it  was  the  result  of 
a  promise  that  he  would  faithfully  transmit  to  the  Assembly 
all  kingly  commands  for  military  aid,  which  "  he  doubted 
not  "  that  body  would  honor.  It  did  not  honor  the  first 
communication  he  made  in  compliance  with  this  implied 
contract,  and  Penn  must  have  known  that  it  would  not 
and  that  he  would  not  urge  it  to. 

Fortunately  the  trouble  was  only  ephemeral,  and  no  one 
called  for  a  literal  enforcement  of  the  condition,  but  this 
hardly  acquits  Penn  of  something  like  hedging  in  his  deal- 
ings with  the  Crown,  a  stroke  of  diplomacy  very  venial  in 
that  day,  but  not  quite  consistent  with  an  open  and  per- 
fectly transparent  character. 

These,  then,  seem  to  be  the  weak  spots  in  Penn's  record, 
an  inability  to  judge  men  and  a  certain  timidity  in  dealing 
with  difficult  situations,  when  his  larger  plans  would  be 
thereby  endangered.  More  than  this  can  hardly  be  fairly 
charged  against  him.  These  were  the  causes  of  the  most  of 
his  troubles.  Good  deputies  and  bold  strokes  to  rid  him- 
self of  the  webs  of  chicanery  his  personal  and  political 
enemies  had  woven  around  him  would  have  kept  the  tem- 
per of  the  colonists  sweet  and  loyal  and  his  own  actions  free 
to  carry  out  his  plans.  When  he  went  to  jail  for  a  matter 
of  conscience,  every  one  of  his  friends  must  have  felt  a  thrill 
of  pride  as  he  declared:  "  My  prison  shall  be  my  grave  be- 
fore I  will  budge  a  jot,  for  I  owe  obedience  of  the  conscience 
to  no  mortal  man."  But  when  he  sent  out  his  frantic  ap- 
peals to  Logan  to  gather  in  his  dues,  and  allowed  his  friends 
to  raise  a  subscription  to  pay  off  the  indebtedness  he  had 
unwittingly  contracted,  when  he  lay  months  in  Fleet  prison 


24      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

waiting  for  his  creditors  to  come  to  terms,  there  must  have 
been  a  loss  of  respect  among  those  who  looked  to  him  for 
leadership,  even  though  these  were  recognized  as  under  the 
circumstances  right  and  necessary  things  to  do,  and  to  be 
the  result  of  no  moral  obliquity  on  his  part. 

The  other  side  of  Penn's  character  is  more  pleasing  to 
contemplate,  and  so  much  more  impressive  that  the  flaws 
seem  insignificant.  He  was  profoundly  and  sincerely  reli- 
gious, and  his  personal  life  was  far  above  the  ordinary  vices 
of  his  age.  This  was  questioned  probably  but  once.  When 
a  persecuting  Judge  suggested  that  the  early  career  of  the 
prisoner  had  been  guilty  of  some  of  the  sins  against  which 
he  was  declaiming,  Penn  indignantly  denied  it  and  chal- 
lenged any  one  to  prove  that  by  word  or  deed  he  had,  even 
in  his  more  thoughtless  youth,  ever  offended  against  the 
standards  of  a  strict  morality.  The  Judge  was  rebuked  by 
a  fellow  judge,  who  admitted  the  truth  of  Penn's  denial  and 
told  his  associate  that  he  had  gone  too  far.  The  truth 
of  the  declaration  may  well  be  admitted.  Only  purity 
of  life,  or  arch  hypocrisy,  could  be  the  basis  of  such  beauti- 
ful precepts  of  morality  and  piety  as  we  find  in  his  writ- 
ings, and  the  latter  alternative  will  hardly  be  claimed  by 
any  one. 

The  wisdom  of  many  of  his  Fruits  of  Solitude,  the  fervent 
appeal  to  the  reader  at  the  beginning  of  No  Cross,  No 
Crown,  the  fitting  and  eloquent  eulogy  on  George  Fox,  and 
many  others  which  will  occur  to  any  reader  of  his  works, 
could  hardly  be  the  product  of  a  character  which  had  ever 
suffered  a  moral  relapse.  Nor  is  there  evidence  that  the 
validity  of  his  inspired  ministry  or  the  profound  respect 
and  influence  accorded  to  his  preaching  was  questioned  by 
his  rather  exacting  collaborators  in  the  Gospel  among 
Friends.  It  is  no  proof  of  this  that  crowds  flocked  to  hear 
him  in  England  when  he  was  expected  to  be  present  at  a 


WILLIAM   PENN  25 

meeting,  for  this  is  the  meed  of  every  preacher  who  has  for 
the  time  being  the  popular  ear. 

A  better  evidence  is  the  judgment  of  friends  expressed  in 
private  correspondence,  Isaac  Norris  wrote  in  1701,  just 
as  Penn  was  leaving  the  province  the  second  time: 

"  The  unhappy  misunderstandings  in  some  and  unwar- 
rantable oppositions  in  others  have  been  a  block  to  our 
plenary  comforts  in  him,  and  his  own  quiet;  but  these 
things  are  externals  only.  Our  communion  in  the  church 
sweetens  all,  and  our  inward  waitings  and  worships  to- 
gether have  often  been  a  general  comfort  and  consolation; 
and  in  this  I  take  a  degree  of  satisfaction,  after  all,  that  we 
part  in  love;  and  some  of  his  last  words  in  meeting  yester- 
day, were  *  that  he  looked  over  all  infirmities  and  outwards, 
and  had  an  eye  to  the  region  of  spirits,  wherein  is  our 
surest  tie  '  ;  and  in  true  love,  there  he  took  his  leave  of  us." 

Again  in  1707,  when  the  proprietor  was  in  the  darkest 
days  of  his  difficulties  with  the  Fords,  Isaac  Norris  writes: 

"  The  more  he  is  pressed,  the  more  he  rises.  He  seems 
of  a  spirit  fit  to  bear  and  to  rub  through  difficulties,  and 
after  all,  as  thou  observes,  '  his  foundation  remains.'  " 

William  Penn  was  one  of  those  choice  beings  whose  soul 
was  attuned  to  Divine  harmonies,  and  whose  power  could 
be  felt  by  kindred  spirits  in  the  life  of  Christ.  When  he 
was  coming  to  Pennsylvania  in  1699,  he  received  three  cer- 
tificates from  his  Friends  in  England,  one  from  "  the  Sec- 
ond-day's Meeting  of  Ministering  Friends,"  in  London,  one 
from  the  Friends  in  Bristol,  where  he  had  resided  for  a 
considerable  time,  and  one  from  the  Monthly  Meeting  of 
Horsham,  They  are  all  most  appreciative.  The  last  tells 
of  — 

"  Our  unity  and  communion  with  him.  ,  ,  ,  He  had  been 
a  holy  and  blessed  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord, 


26      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

both  in  his  ministry  and  conversation  (conduct)  and  hath 
always  sought  the  prosperity  of  the  blessed  truth  and  peace 
and  concord  in  the  Church  of  Christ;  and  walked  among 
us  in  all  humility,  good  sincerity  and  true  brotherly  love 
to  our  great  refreshment  and  comfort." 

There  was  some  adverse  sentiment.  In  Pennsylvania, 
this  had,  to  a  large  extent,  a  political  basis,  and  was  led  by 
David  Lloyd  and  Griffith  Jones,  both  probably  estimable 
men,  but  whose  extreme  demands  created  a  partisan  feeling 
that  extended  into  the  meetings.^  These  men  were  corre- 
spondents and  in  sympathetic  relations  with  William  Mead 
and  Thomas  Lower,  who  are  spoken  of  in  the  letters  of  the 
day  ^  as  representing  the  opposition  party.  George  White- 
head is  often  associated  with  them. 

This  opposition  from  within  was  largely  due  to  Penn's 
supposed  aristocratic  tendencies  and  possible  departure 
from  a  proper  simplicity  in  his  relations  with  the  courtly 
influences  among  which  he  moved,  and  also  to  the  Ford 

1  "Our  meetings  for  business  are  now  so  much  injured  by  some 
young  forward  novices  and  a  few  partisans  of  D.  Lloyd,  still  a  close 
member,  that  the  more  sound  and  ancient  Friends  do  not  venture 
upon  anything  there  that  concerns  the  government,  expecting  a 
separation  upon  it  whenever  it  is  taken  in  hand.  According  to 
present  appearances  of  things,  a  separation  will  in  time  be  un- 
avoidable, and  that  after  Friends  (in  England)  have  taken  notice 
of  proceedings  here,  nothing  less  than  a  general  purge  will  ensue. 
J.  Logan,  4  mo.  28,  1707." 

2  "There  is  a  short  communication  held  between  thy  opposites 
among  Friends  there  and  that  corrupted  generation  here.  G. 
Whitehead  has  wrote  a  most  affectionate  letter  to  Griffith  Jones. 
He  expresses  himself  as  thy  friend,  but  we  know  how  he  is  linked 
with  the  Mead  and  Lower  Party.  I  believe  George  is  mistaken 
in  Griffith,  and  knows  not  that  he  is  not  received  in  unity  with 
Friends." 

James  Logan  to  William  Penn,  6  mo.  10,  1706. 
"They  address  such  on  this  side  the  water  (England)  who  are 
judged  by  them  to  be  not  in  the  best  understanding  with  him." 
Isaac  Norris  to  Joseph  Pike,  1  mo.  (March)  18,  1707. 
See  Penn  and  Logan  correspondence. 


WILLIAM   PENN  27 

question  and  the  doings  of  Evans  as  deputy-governor.  It 
vas  later  swallowed  up  by  the  prevailing  and  warmly  ex- 
pressed regard,  as  these  matters  were  seen  to  be  perfectly 
consistent  with  his  profession  and  exalted  character.  After  - 
1710,  both  the  personal  and  political  antagonism  largely 
ceased  in  Pennsylvania,  and  those  who  had  been  considered 
as  opponents  lost  their  influence.  The  English  opposition,  al- 
ways less  well  defined  and  based  on  more  shadowy  grounds, 
seems  also  to  have  disappeared  about  the  same  time.  So 
that,  cleared  of  his  financial  troubles,  his  colony  loyal,  and 
his  enemies  evanescent,  he  spent  the  last  two  years  of  his 
vigorous  life  in  a  serene  atmosphere  of  success  and  triumph. 
The  stroke  that  then  deprived  him  of  his  mental  power,  but 
left  his  spiritual  faculties  unimpaired,  brought  him  univer- 
sal sympathy  and  appreciation. 

Mentally,  Penn  was  one  of  the  great  men  of  his  times.  It 
was  a  day  of  young  men.  The  great  preachers  were  nearly 
all  under  thirty,  but  this  might  be  consistent  with  ordinary 
intelligence.  Penn  was  more  than  a  great  popular  preacher. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  thoughts  and  far-seeing  plans  and 
definite  and  courageous  convictions  based  on  learning  and 
experience  and  study.  He  was  ready  for  Oxford  at  fifteen. 
He  was  but  twenty-three  when  the  germ  of  the  principle  of 
universal  toleration  seems  to  have  taken  possession  of  him, 
apparently  evolved  from  within,  which  in  time  became  the 
great  enthusiasm  of  his  life.  At  the  same  time  he  began  to 
preach.  The  first  of  his  religious  works  came  a  few  years 
later,  and  No  Cross,  No  Crown  immediately  followed.  The 
erudition  displayed  by  one  so  young  was  a  surprise  to 
friends  and  enemies  alike.  Thus,  at  the  age  when  the 
average  American  youth  is  finishing  college,  Penn  had  col- 
lected a  wonderful  store  of  knowledge,  could  command  an 
effective  English  style,  and  was  a  master  of  theological 
arguments  of  a  most  serviceable  quality. 


28      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

His  development  was  continuous.  His  work  on  consti- 
tutions prior  to  his  American  experiment  betrays  the 
thoughtful  student  of  the  best  that  had  been  written  in  tbe 
past.  He  always  had  great  conceptions  and  projects.  In 
1693  he  published  his  scheme  for  "  An  European  Dyet, 
Parliament  or  Estates,"  to  which  disputes  between  nations 
should  be  referred.  All  the  great  Powers  were  to  be  repre- 
sented. The  advantages  of  such  a  court,  and  the  means  to 
make  its  decisions  acceptable,  in  order  to  avoid  wars,  were 
presented  with  great  wealth  of  argument  and  illustration. 
The  Hague  tribunal  was  there  in  embryo. 

Three  years  later,  he  published  a  plan  for  the  union  of  the 
American  Colonies.  Two  representatives  of  each  province 
were  to  meet  in  New  York  to  arrange  matters  of  common  in- 
terest. They  were  to  settle  questions  concerning  commerce, 
the  return  of  criminals,  and  "  consider  ways  and  means  to 
support  the  union  and  safety  of  these  provinces  against  the 
public  enemies."  This  was  probably  the  first  suggestion 
of  the  movement  which  culminated  about  a  century  later 
in  the  Federal  Constitution  and  Union. 

But  the  greatest  and  at  the  same  time  most  practical  con- 
ception was  the  foundation  of  Pennsylvania  itself.  That 
there  were  errors  in  detail,  none  can  doubt.  An  absentee 
landlord,  even  though  liberal,  can  hardly  avoid  criticism 
and  opposition,  and  such  was  William  Penn  to  his  colony. 
His  forceful  presence  would  undoubtedly  have  composed 
faction  and  removed  difficulties,  and  it  was  his  full  purpose 
to  have  lived  permanently  in  Pennsylvania.  The  idea  of  a 
commonwealth  devoted  to  liberty  and  peace  drew  out  the 
best  powers  of  a  comprehensive  and  enthusiastic  intellect. 
There  was  no  room  in  Europe,  but  in  the  great  unoccupied 
expanse  of  the  New  World  he  would  carry  out  his  ideals 
with  a  selected  community  in  sympathy  with  them,  of  a 
serious  and  honest  sort,  to  whom  he  would  transfer  the 


WILLIAM  PENN  29 

government  power  and  realty  rights  he  had  purchased  of 
the  Crown,  reserving  only  such  moderate  share  of  each  as 
security  for  the  future  and  family  interests  would  justify. 
It  was  a  glorious  conception  and  a  no  less  glorious  oppor- 
tunity, and  we  find  him  continually  tempering  his  natural 
ardor  by  considerations  of  duty  to  God  and  man,  as  the 
seriousness  of  the  task  and  the  risks  of  failure  pressed 
themselves  upon  him. 

There  was,  too,  in  his  composition  a  good  share  of  fight- 
ing spirit.  He  was  to  have  difficulties,  but  he  never  quailed. 
The  temper  which  declared  that  he  would  never  yield  a  jot, 
even  though  he  died  in  prison,  served  him  in  good  stead  in 
other  contests.  "  Can  my  wicked  enemies  yet  bow?  They 
shall,  or  break,  or  be  broken  in  pieces  before  a  year  from 
this  time  comes  about,  and  my  true  friends  rejoice,"  he  de- 
clared in  a  crisis  with  Lord  Baltimore.  "  If  lenitives  will 
not  do,  coercives  must  be  tried,"  he  announced  in  another 
emergency.  It  was  only  this  determined  vigor  which  car- 
ried him  through  the  vast  heap  of  difficulties  among  which 
he  struggled. 

The  whole  of  Penn's  life  indicates  the  power  of  his  per- 
sonality. Where  he  was  present,  events  shaped  themselves 
towards  his  purposes.  At  the  courts  of  Charles  II.,  of  James 
II.,  and  of  Anne,  he  had  surprising  influence.  This  is  all 
the  more  remarkable  because  his  Quaker  scruples  in  certain 
respects  must  have  removed  him  far  from  the  ordinary 
courtier.  We  may  assume  that  his  dress,  while  simple, 
was  comely;  that  his  speech,  while  observing  the  limitations 
of  his  sect,  was  well  chosen,  pleasing  and  appreciative  of 
the  point  of  view  of  his  associates;  that  his  manners,  while 
devoid  of  the  flattering  postures  and  phrases  of  the  day, 
were  never  offensive.  It  is  only  thus  that  we  can  explain 
what  seems  his  general  friendliness  with  royalty  and  nobil- 
ity.    "  I  know  of  no  religion,"  he  says,  "  that  destroys  cour- 


30      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

tesy,  civility  and  kindness,"  and  these  qualities,  together 
with  a  conversation  full  of  interesting  matter  and  a  ready 
wit,  seem  to  have  made  him  generally  acceptable.  So  it 
was  that  he  interceded  successfully  at  court,  not  only  for 
hundreds  of  persecuted  Friends,  but  for  Anglican  bishops, 
political  refugees,  and  suffering  scholars,  as  well  as  crowds 
of  needy  suitors  of  humbler  rank. 

It  was  for  these  purposes,  and  to  counteract  the  influence 
of  Lord  Baltimore  in  the  matter  of  the  boundary  line,  ef- 
forts which  never  failed  of  success,  that  he  felt  impelled  to 
remain  so  much  in  England.  Again  and  again  he  hoped  to 
come  to  Pennsylvania,  but  the  demands  of  Friends  and  the 
exactions  of  Ford  kept  him  at  home.  Only  two  visits  of  less 
than  two  years  each,  all  too  short  for  the  work  to  be  done, 
was  he  able  to  make  to  his  province. 

His  personal  influence  was  no  less  marked  among  his 
colonists.  When  present,  faction  was  stilled,  the  Indians 
were  pacified,  desirable  legislation  was  effected,  and  under 
his  ministry  the  meetings  settled  down  into  quietness  and 
harmony.  Could  he  have  longer  remained,  another  history- 
would  have  been  written.  Perhaps  it  was  well  that  in  the 
tutelage  of  the  colony  it  should  have  been  left  to  its  own 
responsibility,  and  have  found  its  way  through  confusion 
to  liberty.  For  had  the  compelling  influence  of  its  founder 
been  continually  present,  a  heroic  figure  among  his  friends, 
certain  aristocratic  features  and  social  customs  might  have 
been  engrafted  on  the  government  less  favorable  to  liberty 
than  such  as  were  worked  out  through  the  stress  of  partisan 
conflict.  Whether  we  sympathize  with  David  Lloyd  or 
William  Penn  in  the  struggle  between  them,  we  may  accord 
to  each  of  them  a  potent  influence  in  shaping  the  free  gov- 
ernment which  grew  out  of  the  troubled  early  years  of  the 
experiment. 

There  are  many  traditions  of  his  life  in  America:  how  he 


WILLIAM  PENN  31 

outjumped  the  Indians,  and  gained  their  lasting  regard;  the 
great  treaty  immortalized  by  Clarkson  in  history,  by  West 
on  the  canvas,  and  by  Voltaire  in  happy  phrase;  the  open 
house  at  Pennsbury,  where  in  feudal  style  he  generously  en- 
tertained red  man  and  white,  politician  and  minister  alike; 
his  "  walks  "  with  the  Indians  and  the  regard  he  showed 
for  their  prejudices  and  customs;  how  on  his  way  to  Haver- 
ford  Meeting  he  took  upon  his  horse  little  Rebecca  Wood, 
and  carried  her  with  him  to  the  Meeting,  her  bare  feet 
dangling  on  either  side;  how  at  Merion  a  little  boy,  curious 
to  see  the  great  Governor,  peeped  through  a  hole  in  the  door 
of  his  chamber,  and  saw  him  on  his  knees  returning  thanks 
that  he  had  been  provided  for  in  the  wilderness.  There  is 
probably  more  or  less  truth  in  all  of  these.  They  show 
that  in  a  little  time  something  of  a  halo  gathered  around 
his  name,  and  his  little  acts  became  significant,  a  sure  evi- 
dence of  influence. 

We  may  make  such  surmises  as  we  will  concerning  the 
extent  of  the  influence  of  William  Penn  upon  Pennsylvania 
Quakerism,  based  on  his  character  and  standing.  The 
Meeting  minutes  make  but  limited  reference  to  him.  In 
1683  a  plan,  doubtless  originating  in  William  Penn's  com- 
prehensive mind,  was  presented  to  the  Meeting: 

"  It  being  desired  to  hold  a  general  Meeting  of  Friends 
from  New  England  to  Carolina,  the  Meeting  appoints: 
William  Penn,  Christopher  Taylor,  Samuel  Jenings,  James 
Harrison,  Thomas  Olive,  Mahlon  Stacy,  to  make  arrange- 
ments by  writing  to  Friends  or  speaking,  and  inform  Lon- 
don Yearly  Meeting." 

What  difficulties  prevented  the  realization  of  this  pro- 
ject for  nationalizing  the  Society  of  Friends,  we  do  not 
know.  They  were  probably  material,  rather  than  political. 
What  different  development  would  have  resulted  is  also  a 
matter  of  conjecture.    Something  of  the  same  idea  occurred 


32      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

to  certain  Yearly  Meetings  about  two  hundred  years  later. 

In  1700,  on  the  occasion  of  Penn's  second  visit,  we  have 
a  record  of  certificates  concerning  him  being  received  from 
Bristol,  London,  and  Horsham.  In  the  same  year  "  Gov- 
ernor Penn  "  was  appointed  on  a  committee  to  draw  up 
the  epistle  to  London  Yearly  Meeting.  The  next  year  the 
following  minute  was  adopted: 

"  Our  Governor,  William  Penn,  having  said  before  this 
Meeting  that  he  entends  for  England,  and  desires  that  they 
would  appoint  ten  or  twelve  Friends  to  meet  him  this  even- 
ing upon  some  weighty  occasion,  in  order  thereunto,  Sam- 
uel Jenings  (and  fifteen  others)  and  such  public  Friends  as 
have  freedom,  are  desired  to  meet  the  Governor  accordingly 
about  six  this  evening." 

This  meeting  is  probably  referred  to  in  the  letter  of  Isaac 
Norris,  already  quoted.  No  other  references  to  him  appear 
on  the  Yearly  Meeting  minutes.  We  may  safely  assume, 
however,  that  he  was  an  important  figure  in  any  meeting 
which  he  attended. 

In  the  minutes  of  Philadelphia  Monthly  Meeting,  there 
are  evidences  of  his  interest  in  the  details  of  society  work 
and  his  name  appears  occasionally.  On  Eleventh-month 
1st,  1683  (January  1684): 

"  A  letter  of  advice  from  the  Governor  was  read  to 
Friends  councelling  them  to  be  careful  in  their  behaviour  for 
Truth's  sake,  that  so  the  Lord  might  not  be  dishonoured  and 
the  Truth  evily  spoken  of  amongst  wicked  men." 

Again  on  Sixth-month  (August)  5th,  1684: 

"  The  Governor  being  present,  and  his  departure  for 
England  drawing  nigh,  he  moved  the  Meeting  to  give  him  a 
certificate  as  touching  his  demeanour  amongst  the  people 
of  his  province,  which  was  taken  into  consideration  by  the 
Meeting." 

And  later  in  the  same  Meeting: 


WILLIAM  PENN  33 

"  A  certificate  was  drawn  up  in  the  Meeting  according 
to  the  motion  of  the  Governor,  and  subscribed  by  Thomas 
Lloyd  (and  fifteen  others)  in  the  name  of  the  Meeting." 

During  his  second  visit,  he  expressed  to  the  Meeting  a 
"  concern  "  that  religious  work  should  be  done  among  the 
negroes  and  Indians.  Acting  on  this  the  Friends  appointed 
a  Monthly  Meeting  for  negroes  to  which  their  masters  were 
to  send  them,  and  "  be  present  with  them  at  said  meetings 
as  frequent  as  may  be."  It  was  also  agreed  that  when 
Indians  are  in  town  they  be  invited  to  a  meeting  "  when 
our  Governor  is  willing  to  speak  to  them." 

He  worked  on  ordinary  committees,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
widow  of  Thomas  Lloyd,  who  thought  that  the  executors  of 
his  will  had  not  treated  her  fairly.  The  Governor  being 
present  on  another  occasion,  "  readily  condescended  "  to 
give  the  materials  of  the  meeting  house,  erected  where  the 
City  Hall  now  is,  to  another  in  a  more  accessible  part  of 
the  city. 

When  he  left  in  1701,  never  to  return,  though  he  and  they 
hoped  otherwise,  another  cordial  and  loving  certificate 
drawn  up  by  Thomas  Story,  Samuel  Carpenter,  and  Griffith 
Owen,  was  given  him. 

The  personality  of  William  Penn  may  well  be  assumed  to 
be  the  most  potent  influence  in  the  early  history  of  his 
province.  His  advantages  of  birth,  fortune,  and  education, 
his  superior  intellectual  and  moral  powers,  his  position  as 
originator  of  the  conception  which  had  given  to  all  its  mem- 
bers their  worldly  and  religious  opportunities,  his  authority 
as  Governor  and  Proprietor,  would  in  any  community  have 
endowed  him  with  a  towering  ascendency.  But  when  to 
these  are  added  a  humility  in  religious  affairs,  which  asked 
and  would  allow  no  precedence,  a  record  of  faithful  adher- 
ence to  principle  through  losses  and  imprisonments,  and 
an  endowment  of   a  prophetic  gift  of  remarkable  fervor 


34      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  power,  there  is  no  need  to  doubt  that  whenever  his 
gracious  presence  could  be  felt,  nothing  could  ever  compare 
with  it.  Even  in  his  absence,  his  words  and  memory  and 
spirit  hovered  over  his  province  in  its  religious  life,  and 
became,  long  after  his  death,  its  inspiration  and  guide. 

From  Plato  to  H.  G.  Wells  many  paper  constitutions  have 
been  drawn  up.  Utopia,  Oceana,  The  New  Atlantis,  Look- 
ing Backward  and  a  host  of  others  have  described  ideal 
bases  of  government.  Whether  they  would  work  or  not 
has  never  been  ascertained  for  they  were  never  as  a  whole 
put  into  operation  by  their  authors  or  others.  Doubtless 
they  have  supplied  ideas  and  developed  the  conditions 
which  have  created  successful  commonwealths.  In  this 
way  they  have  fulfilled  their  function.  William  Penn 
alone  seems  to  have  been  able  to  perform  the  double  duty 
of  working  out  a  scheme  in  theory,  and  putting  it  into  suc- 
cessful action  in  a  new  country.  He  advised  with  the  re- 
publican Algernon  Sidney,  with  his  Dutch  friend  Benjamin 
Furly  and  others,  but  primarily  it  was  the  result  of  his  own 
studies  and  observation.  Out  of  this  mass  of  cogitation  and 
advice  came  his  first  constitution,  still  in  paper  existence 
with  marginal  and  interlinear  corrections  in  the  handwrit- 
ing of  himself  and  others. 

He  wants  "  that  manner  or  frame  of  government  that 
shall  preserve  magistracy  in  reverence  with  the  people  and 
best  keep  it  from  being  hurtful  to  them."  He  thinks  that 
the  Hebrew  and  English  types  afford  the  best  models,  but 
"  It  were  a  most  condemnible  superstition  to  perpetuate 
anything  for  being  ancient  or  domestic  that  were  not  other- 
wise useful."  Then  he  enumerates,  first  as  always,  reli- 
gious liberty,  "  As  every  person  shall  in  conscience  believe 
is  most  acceptable  to  God."  There  shall  be  a  law-making 
power  meeting  annually  and  adjourning  at  its  pleasure  with 
"  Whatever  is  the  privilege  of  an  English  House  of  Com- 


WILLIAM  PENN  35 

mons."  Each  member  shall  bring  a  written  body  of  in- 
structions from  the  electors  and  if  it  shall  so  happen  that 
he  act  contrary  to  the  same  then  "He  never  more  presume 
to  stand  unless  the  people  sensible  of  his  repentance  shall 
forgive  and  choose  him."  There  shall  be  no  imprisonment 
for  debt  for  small  sums  or  capital  punishment  for  small 
crimes.  Oaths  shall  be  abolished.  There  shall  be  no  tav- 
erns or  ale-houses,  nor  any  provision  for  plays,  cards,  horse 
races,  etc.  All  children  shall  be  taught  trades  when  twelve 
years  of  age,  girls  as  well  as  boys. 

A  number  of  changes  were  made  in  this  before  coming  to 
America  and  the  first  twenty  years  after  the  settlement  saw 
several  constitutions  placed  on  trial.  The  final  one  given 
during  his  second  visit  here  in  1701  lasted  till  the  Revolu- 
tion and  is  exceedingly  simple. 

There  were  nine  articles. 

The  first  decreed  religious  liberty. 

The  second  required  a  free  Assembly  with  full  liberty  to 
make  laws. 

The  third  directed  that  two  men  should  be  elected  for 
local  ofiices  from  whom  the  Governor  should  choose. 

The  fourth  required  all  laws  to  be  passed  upon  by  the 
Governor. 

The  fifth  secured  the  rights  of  criminals  to  a  fair  trial. 

The  sixth  gave  to  the  courts  and  not  the  Governor  the 
rights  to  decide  all  property  cases. 

The  seventh  demanded  good  morality  of  the  applicant 
for  a  tavern  before  license  could  be  granted. 

The  eighth  prevents  the  forfeiture  of  the  estates  of  sui- 
cides and  required  a  six- seventh  vote  of  the  Assembly  to 
amend  any  clause. 


36      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

The  ninth  declares  that  the  clause  relating  to  religious 
liberty  will  be  preserved  forever  by  the  proprietor  and  his 
heirs. 

On  this  basis  of  elementary  right  the  government  of 
Pennsylvania  for  75  years  worked  with  success  and  a  pros- 
perity unrivalled  among  the  colonies. 

The  great  enthusiasm  of  William  Penn's  life  was  for 
religious  liberty.  It  was  just  beginning  to  find  a  voice  in 
Europe  in  his  time.  Holland  was  leading  the  way  and 
Roger  Williams  who  was  an  English  pioneer  had  in  1644 
published  his  "  Bloody  Tenent  of  Persecution  for  the  Cause 
of  Conscience."  Here  the  arguments  for  the  free  enjoyment 
of  one's  own  religious  convictions  and  practices  were  given 
with  great  liberality  and  learning.  Nor  did  he  shrink  from 
the  full  application  of  these  principles  when  he  founded  his 
Rhode  Island  Colony.  Toleration,  which  implies  a  favored 
church  and  permission  to  others  to  exist,  was  as  far  as  the 
more  advanced  thinkers  had  elsewhere  gone,  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut  rigidly  excluded  dissenters  from  the 
franchise  and  demanded  of  them  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
state  religion.  Physical  cruelty  was  the  penalty  for  the 
free  exercise  of  their  worship  by  the  Quakers  of  Massachu- 
setts and  they  with  Baptists  and  Episcopalians  were  ban- 
ished. The  Church  of  England  was  established  in  New 
York  and  the  South,  and,  save  for  a  time  in  Maryland  under 
Catholic  rule,  there  were  disabilities  and  fines  for  dissenters. 

Penn  grasped  the  idea  in  its  fulness  and  his  early  at- 
tempts at  a  constitution  for  his  colony  show  how  thor- 
oughly he  was  convinced  of  its  righteousness.  But  he  had 
to  satisfy  the  court,  and  by  1701  when  his  frame  had  got 
others,  it  had  received  some  limitations. 


WILLIAM  PENN  37 

"  I  do  hereby  grant/'  he  says,  "and  declare  that  no  per- 
son or  persons  inhabiting  in  the  province  or  territories, 
who  shall  confess  or  acknowledge  one  Almighty  God  —  and 
profess  him  or  themselves  obliged  to  live  quietly  under  the 
civil  government,  shall  in  any  case  be  molested  or  preju- 
diced on  his  or  their  person  or  estate  because  of  his  or  their 
conscientious  persuasion  or  practice,  nor  be  compelled  to 
frequent  or  maintain  any  religious  worship  place  or  min- 
istry, contrary  to  his  or  their  mind,  or  to  do  or  suffer  any 
other  act  or  thing  contrary  to  their  religious  persuasion. 
And  that  all  persons  who  profess  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ 
the  Saviour  of  the  World,  shall  be  capable  (notwithstand- 
ing their  other  persuasions  and  practices  in  point  of  con- 
science and  religion)  to  serve  this  government  in  any 
capacity,  both  legislatively  and  executively,  etc." 

That  is,  Penn  opened  the  door  of  conscience  freely  and 
equally  to  all  religions  which  acknowledged  the  existence 
of  a  God,  and  allowed  all  professing  Christians  to  hold  of- 
fice. This  latter  limitation,  which  in  his  time  did  not 
amount  to  one,  was  probably  a  necessity  of  his  English 
connection. 

Later  at  the  command  of  England,  his  successors  by  a 
test  excluded  Catholics,  who  were  assumed  to  be  allies  of 
the  banished  Stuarts,  and  in  league  with  their  great  national 
enemy,  France,  from  the  privileges  of  office  holding,  with- 
out however  curtailing  the  freedom  of  their  worship. 

That  protection  of  the  Catholics  was  given  is  shown  by 
an  incident  of  1755  after  the  story  of  Braddock's  defeat 
had  reached  Philadelphia.  A  mob  assembled,  as  the  diary 
of  Daniel  Fisher  says,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the 
"  Mass  House  "  for  supposed  sympathy  with  the  Friends. 
"  But  the  peaceable  Quakers  insisted  that  the  Catholics  as 
well  as  Christians  of  other  denominations  were  settled  upon 
the  faith  of  the  Constitution  or  William  Penn's  Charter  and 
that  the  governments  were  bound   to    protect   so   long   at 


^bd'i  \} 


38      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

least  as  they  remained  inoffensive,  etc."  The  Friends  were 
true  to  the  principles  of  religious  liberty  of  the  Founder.^ 

William  Penn  had  been  largely  instrumental  in  securing 
for  dissenters  in  England  a  certain  amount  of  toleration. 
This  was  all  he  could  expect  there  and  the  tests  there  re- 
quired were  forced  upon  his  colonial  officials.  He  would 
have  had  them  to  resist.  "  Why  should  you  obey  any  order 
which  is  not  according  to  patent  or  law  here,  nor  the  laws  of 
your  own  country,"  he  writes  indignantly  from  England. 
This  test  simply  required  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  the 
Crown,  a  denial  of  papal  authority  and  practices  and  pro- 
fession of  faith  in  orthodox  Christianity.  The  Friends 
could  honestly  subscribe,  but  it  negatived  the  application  of 
the  broader  principle  to  which  Penn  was  committed,  against 
any  religious  test.  It  remained  however  all  through  provin- 
cial days. 

That  he  would  not  grant  any  political  favors  to  his  own 
sect  is  undoubted.  He  sends  a  stinging  rebuke  to  a  member 
who  asks  whether  the  founders  of  the  colony  should  not 
have  such  consideration.  He  gives  in  a  private  letter  his 
purpose  in  this  respect.  "  I  went  thither  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  a  free  colony  for  all  mankind  that  should  go  thither, 
more  especially  those  of  my  own  profession;  not  that  I 
would  lessen  the  civil  liberties  of  others  because  of  their 
persuasion,  but  screen  and  defend  our  own  from  any  in- 
fringement on  that  account."  Knowing  so  well  the  disa- 
bilities of  Friends  in  England  he  would  guard  against  a  rep- 

^  The  Episcopal  minister  at  Chester  about  1740  writes  that  the 
Quakers  were  encouraging  children  to  leave  his  school  to  join  one 
which  they  had  encouraged  managed  by  a  "virulent  Papist." 
"They  did  what  none  but  Quakers  dare  do  in  a  country  under 
the  government  of  a  Protestant  king."  But  something  may  be 
charged  to  partisan  zeal  in  such  statements  as  this.  They  show 
however  a  willingness  to  extend  their  idea  of  liberty  to  this  most 
suspected  of  religious  bodies. 


WILLIAM   PENN  39 

etition  of  them  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  guarding  it  for  them 
he  did  the  same  for  every  one  else. 

He  meant  also  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  provide  for  the 
future.  After  prescribing  a  way  by  which  all  the  other 
clauses  could  be  amended  he  says:  "  Because  the  happiness 
of  mankind  depends  so  much  upon  the  enjoying  of  liberty 
of  the  conscience,  as  aforesaid,  I  do  hereby  solemnly  de- 
clare, promise  and  grant  for  me,  my  heirs  and  assigns,  that 
the  first  article  of  this  chapter,  relating  to  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  every  part  and  clause  therein,  according  to  the 
true  intent  and  meaning  thereof,  shall  be  kept  and  remain 
without  any  alteration,  inviolably  forever." 

Hardly  less  liberal  was  his  attitude  to  Democracy.  This 
was  abated  somewhat  in  course  of  time  by  his  imperious 
need  for  financial  returns  from  his  colony  which  were  rather 
ungenerously  declined,  and  perhaps  also  by  the  aristocratic 
circumstances  of  his  family  which  had  large  influence  in 
English  society  of  the  day.  But  he  started  with  unbounded 
intentions  of  radical  civil  liberty.  In  his  draft  of  govern- 
ment which  he  brought  from  England  he  allowed  himself 
only  three  votes  in  a  legislative  assembly  of  272  members 
and  no  veto.  The  veto  power  was  returned  to  him  and  ex- 
ercised by  him  and  his  heirs,  or  in  their  absence  by  their 
deputies,  through  all  the  proprietary  years.  Then  he  cre- 
ated a  bicameral  legislature,  the  appointed  Council  propos- 
ing all  legislation  and  the  elected  Assembly  passing  on  it. 
By  gradual  encroachment  on  the  power  of  the  Council  it 
was  reduced  to  an  advisory  body  only,  after  1701,  and  the 
Assembly  elected  yearly,  meeting  without  call,  and  ad- 
journing at  its  pleasure  became  the  free  law-creating  body 
responsive  to  public  opinion  only.  The  franchise  for  the 
day  was  liberal,  not  universal,  but  with  a  moderate  property 
qualification.  In  its  frequent  contests  with  the  proprietors 
it  won  victory  after  victory   for  the  cause  of  democracy, 


40      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

by  bringing  popular  sentiment  to  bear,  and  English  fashion, 
withholding  money  till  privileges  were  granted. 

It  was  unfortunate  that  circumstances  seemed  to  place 
Penn  in  certain  exigencies  on  the  side  opposed  to  democ- 
racy. For  his  early  utterances  and  feelings  were  far  other- 
wise. He  had  been  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  election  to 
Parliament  of  the  radical  republican  Algernon  Sidney.  In 
1676  when  he  was  thinking  out  a  government  for  New  Jer- 
sey he  said,  "  We  lay  a  foundation  for  after  ages  to  under- 
stand their  liberty  as  men  and  as  Christians,  that  they  may 
not  be  brought  into  bondage  but  by  their  own  consent;  for 
we  put  the  power  in  the  people,"  In  1687  he  had  printed 
the  Magna  Charta  with  an  introduction  and  comments  in- 
tended to  give  his  colonists  a  knowledge  of  their  rights  as 
Englishmen.  *'  It  may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  we  shall 
find  in  this  part  of  the  world  many  men  both  old  and  young 
that  are  strangers  in  a  great  measure  to  the  true  under- 
standing of  that  inestimable  inheritance,  that  every  free- 
born  subject  of  England  is  heir  unto  by  birthright,  I  mean 
that  unparalleled  privilege  of  liberty  and  property  beyond 
all  the  nations  of  the  world  outside."  Even  the  jars  of  the 
first  twenty  years  did  not  shake  his  faith  in  the  people's 
right  to  claim  their  dues.  In  1700  he  says  with  great  frank- 
ness: "  If  in  the  constitutions  by  charter  there  be  anything 
that  jars  alter  it.  If  you  want  a  law  for  this  or  that  pre- 
pare it,  ,  ,  ,  I  desire  to  see  mine  not  otherwise  than  in  the 
public's  prosperity." 

The  demands  of  creditors  came  on  him  heavily  after  this. 
He  needed  the  reservations  he  had  claimed  out  of  the 
colonial  income.  He  had  lost  a  princely  fortune  by  his 
investment  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  settlers  were  slow  to 
pay  their  dues.  They  haggled  about  one  privilege  after  an- 
other, mostly  financial,  until  Penn  found  himself  in  alliance 
with  the  anti-democratic  party  of  the  province,  and  felt 


WILLIAM  PENN  41 

that  David  Lloyd  who  led  the  field  against  him  for  prop- 
erty as  well  as  political  rights  was  a  personal  enemy  as  well 
as  a  public  opponent.  But  when  these  petty  matters  were 
cleared  away  his  life  came  out  in  its  true  colors  as  the 
friend  and  champion  of  a  liberal  democracy. 

/  Many  letters  in  existence  tell  of  the  large  trust  of  the 
colonists  in  him  and  how  potential  an  element  this  was  in 
creating  prosperity  in  the  colony.    About  ten  years  after 

"the  settlement  Hugh  Roberts  writes  him,  "  I  can  truly  say 
that  many  of  us  had  never  come  here  but  because  of  the 
love  and  unity  and  confidence  we  had  in  thee."  Indeed  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  the  whole  Welsh  immigration  was  due 
to  his  personality.  They  were  somewhat  disappointed  be- 
cause the  agreement  as  they  understood  it  of  a  "  Barony," 
where  they  could  have  local  home  rule  after  the  Welsh 
fashion,  had  not  been  kept  and  the  letter  of  Hugh  Roberts 
while  professing  personal  devotion  seemed  to  indicate  their 
dissatisfaction. 

On  the  other  hand  an  English  settler,  John  Goodson,  writ- 
ing about  the  same  time,  gives  a  most  glowing  account  of  the 
rapidly  developing  colony  but  expresses  the  opinion  that 
Penn  ought  to  be  there.  "  This  place  is  beyond  whatever 
our  hearts  could  have  thought  of,  so  that  we  have  no  cause 
to  murmur  or  complain.  ...  It  might  have  been  many 
hundreds  better  for  thee  than  it  is;  for  the  hearts  of  many 
were  inclined  to  this  land  for  thy  sake  which  would  and 
might  have  come  if  thou  hadst  settled  here  but  now  will 
never  come  if  thou  comest  not."  The  personality  of  the 
founder  had  in  the  early  days  much  to  do  with  the  success 
of  the  Holy  Experiment. 

After  the  troubles  of  the  early  days  passed  away,  troubles 
which  William  Penn's  presence  in  the  country  might  largely 
have  avoided,  after  the  personal  differences  between  Logan 
and   Lloyd,   between   aristocrat   and   democrat,  had   been 


42      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

largely  forgotten,  the  name  and  work  of  the  founder  were 
r — held  in  ever-increasing  veneration.  In  1739  speaker  Hamil- 
Y  ton,  not  a  Friend,  gives  an  enthusfastic  account  of  the  pros- 

* —  perity,  freedom  and  happiness  of  the  people,  due  he  says  not 
mainly  to  any  material  considerations  but  "  to  the  Consti- 
tution of  Mr.  Penn." 

About  the  same  date  the  daughter  of  the  founder,  Mar- 
garet Penn  Freame,  in  a  letter  to  her  brother  John  urging 
that  a  member  of  the  family  should  live  in  the  province 
says:  "  The  great  regard  they  (the  people)  had  for  our 
good  father  makes  us  welcome  everywhere.  If  I  had  been 
the  first  Duchess  of  England  that  title  would  not  have 
gained  me  so  much  respect  as  the  daughter  of  William  Penn. 
I  had  the  calves  of  their  stalls  and  the  firstlings  of  their 
flocks." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  hesitation  of  many  moderate 
people  to  join  the  American  cause  in  the  Revolution  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  extremists  rather  ruthlessly  set  aside 
the  Penn  Charter  of  1701  under  which  they  had  prospered 
for  75  years,  longer  than  any  other  constitution  of  Penn- 
sylvania existed,  and  which  now  had  become  in  their  eyes 
a  venerated  instrument. 

Charles  Thompson,  "  the  man  who  spoke  the  truth,"  the 
master  of  the  Friends  Public  School,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  the  most  judicious  of  the  revolu- 
tionary Pennsylvanians  writing  long  after  the  event,  of  con- 
ditions about  1775-6  says:  "  The  original  Constitution  of 
Pennsylvania  was  very  favorable  and  well  adapted  to  the 
present  emergency.  The  Assembly  was  annual.  The  elec- 
tion was  fixed  for  a  certain  day  on  which  freemen  who  were 
worth  fifty  pounds,  met,  or  had  a  right  to  meet  without 
summons  at  their  respective  county  towns,  and  by  ballot 
chose  not  only  representatives  of  the  Assembly  but  also 
Sheriff,  coroner,  and  commissioners  for  managing  the  af- 


WILLIAM   PENN  43 

fairs  of  the  county  and  assessors  to  rate  the  tax  imposed  by 
law  upon  the  estates  real  and  personal  of  the  several  inhab- 
itants. Members  of  the  Assembly  when  chosen  met  accord- 
ing to  law  on  a  certain  day  and  chose  their  own  speaker, 
provincial  treasurer  and  sundry  other  officers.  The  house 
sat  on  its  own  adjournment  nor  was  it  in  the  power  of  the 
Governor  to  prorogue  or  dissolve  it.  Hence  it  is  apparent 
that  Pennsylvania  had  a  great  advantage  over  the  other 
colonies  which  by  being  deprived  by  their  Governors  or 
their  legal  Assemblies  constitutionally  chosen  were  forced 
into  conventions." 

i'The  freedom  granted  by  Penn  and  enforced  by  the 
Assembly  for  nearly  a  century,  added  to  the  religious  ob- 
vjection  of  the  Quakers  to  war,  explains  very  largely  the 
lack  of  early  enthusiasm  for  independence  in  the  colony. 
They  were  used  to  liberty  of  which  they  had  made  mod- 
erate and  rational  use,  and  except  for  the  urgency  of 
Massachusetts  and  Virginia  would  probably  not  have  joined 
the  revolutionary  party. 

But  even  though  the  Governor  was  such  a  great  man  the 
Meetings  were  not  inclined  to  accord  him  more  than  his 
dues.  When  he  had  established  himself  at  Pennsbury  there 
was  an  island  in  the  river  opposite  which  had  been  occupied 
by  William  Biddle.  The  main  channel  ran  to  the  west  of 
the  island,  thus  placing  it  in  New  Jersey,  but  Penn  claimed 
that  it  had  belonged  to  a  tribe  of  Indians  which  had  also 
owned  the  Pennsylvania  land  adjoining.  The  controversy 
went  so  far  as  to  bring  it  into  the  meetings  to  which  the 
claimant  belonged  which  appointed  committees  to  examine 
and  report.  The  decision  was  against  the  owner  and 
governor  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  dispute  ended. 

Penn  brought  into  operation  the  Puritan  notions  of  the 
time  as  to  amusements.  In  the  first  draft  of  a  constitution 
before  coming  to  America  he  prohibited  horse-racing,  bull 


44      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  bear  baiting  and  games  of  cards  and  dice.  It  was  also 
decreed  that  there  should  be  no  taverns  or  ale  houses.  This 
last  was  later  softened  into  a  requirement  that  tavern  keep- 
ers shall  be  moral  men,  an  attempt  in  practice  probably 
more  successful  than  the  similar  one  of  the  present  day.  A 
traveller  of  1755  speaks  of  the  "  Indian  King  "  of  Phila- 
delphia kept  by  "  one  Mr.  John  Biddle,  a  very  civil,  cour- 
teous Quaker,"  where  no  liquor  is  served  after  eleven 
o'clock  and  everything  is  moderate  in  cost.  The  Friends, 
however,  soon  after  this  came  to  the  conclusion  that  tavern- 
keeping  was  unsavory  business  for  their  members  and  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  War  tried  to  get  them  all  out  of  it 
with  apparent  success.  About  1766  the  Philadelphia 
Jockey  Club  was  formed,  "  Nearly  all  the  principal  citizens 
outside  the  Society  of  Friends  belonged  to  it."  Out  of 
deference  to  this  body  they  adjourned  the  races  during  the 
week  of  Yearly  Meeting. 

While  Penn  and  his  friends  simply  transferred  to  Amer- 
ica the  common  Puritan  ideas  of  a  godly  commonwealth 
as  to  plays,  games  and  sports,  the  Friends  almost  alone 
adhered  to  them  up  to  Revolutionary  days. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  idea  that  lotteries  were  games  of 
chance  that  kept  them  out  of  colonial  Pennsylvania.  A 
century  before  they  were  sufficiently  in  disfavor  in  the 
country  at  large,  to  be  legislated  against,  while  universities 
and  churches  and  public  improvement  generally  were  build- 
ing themselves  up  through  their  agencies,  while  George 
Washington  was  willing  to  accept  the  presidency  of  a  lot- 
tery company,  while  a  raffle  was  a  common  method  of 
settling  an  estate,  the  Friends  were  adopting  minutes 
against  them  and  the  purchase  of  a  ticket  was  a  sufficient 
cause  for  disownment.  Almost  if  not  quite  alone  among 
the  colonial  sects,  no  Friends  house  of  worship  or  school 
was  erected  by  their  aid  and  no  countenance  was  given  to 


WILLIAM  PENN  45 

state  enterprises.  Benjamin  Franklin  forwarded  a  lottery 
to  raise  money  for  defense  but  the  stricter  Friends  kept 
clear  of  assisting  him,  objecting  as  they  did  both  to  the 
object  and  the  method. 

The  Friends  had  had  a  long  standing  contest  against 
oaths.  They  based  their  objections  partly  on  the  biblical 
prohibitions,  partly  on  the  implication  that  they  would  not 
speak  the  truth  without  them.  They  were  absolutely  faith- 
ful to  this  testimony,  enduring  in  England  long  terms  of 
cruel  imprisonment  rather  than  violate  it.  It  was  a  very 
simple  matter  for  any  inimical  magistrate,  private  enemy 
or  invidious  ecclesiastic  to  offer  or  have  offered  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  king,  and  upon  refusal,  to  place  them  in 
prison.  They  would  declare  their  loyalty  and  challenge 
their  persecutors  to  prove  any  flaw  in  this  respect  but  they 
would  not  swear.  No  testimony  of  early  Quakerism  was 
adhered  to  more  tenaciously  in  the  face  of  malignant  oppo- 
sition than  this. 

William  Penn  himself  was  in  sympathy  with  this  posi- 
tion and  meant  to  relieve  them  in  his  province.  For  a  few 
years  they  had  nothing  but  a  very  simple  form  of  aflSrma- 
tion  and  matters  went  on  smoothly.  But  when  non- 
Quakers  came  into  the  province,  and  Crown  officers  claimed 
that  their  acts  could  only  be  legalized  by  an  oath,  some 
change  was  necessary.  Quaker  judges  and  magistrates 
would  not  administer  them  and  considerable  confusion  re- 
sulted. In  some  sections  there  were  none  but  Friends  com- 
petent to  perform  the  duties  of  the  offices.  They  could 
either  administer  or  resign.  Penn  wrote  disapproving  both 
alternatives.  He  wrote  from  England,  "  I  desire  you  to 
pluck  up  that  English  and  Christian  courage  not  to  suffer 
yourselves  to  be  thus  treated  and  put  upon  .  .  .  lose  what 
you  lose  like  men  and  Christians."  Various  compromises 
were  proposed  but  the  impossibility  of   carrying  on  the 


46      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

work  of  a  mixed  province  made  some  arrangement  neces- 
sary. A  law  was  passed  in  1718  making  an  afiSrmation  as 
valid  as  an  oath  and  affixing  the  same  penalties  for  lying  as 
for  perjury.  Friends  gave  up  offices  which  necessarily  in- 
volved administering  oaths,  and  others  were  sworn  at  their 
pleasure.  Practically  the  same  laws  exist  in  the  United 
States  to-day.  Whenever  however  the  enemies  of  Quaker 
rule  wanted  to  put  them  out  of  place,  they  would  send  a 
petition  to  England  to  require  the  taking  of  an  oath  as  a 
condition  of  office  holding.  It  was  the  threat  of  such  a 
law  passing  Parliament  that  brought  the  resignation  of  the 
Quaker  members  of  the  Assembly  in  1756.  Others  besides 
Friends  refused  oaths  in  favor  of  affirmations,  and  in  the 
popular  mind  these  were  ranked  among  Friends.  But  all 
members  who  took  or  administered  oaths  were  disowned 
by  the  Society. 

By  a  strange  political  trade  the  law  of  1718  which  granted 
liberties  to  Quakers  on  the  subject  of  oaths  included  also 
an  increase  in  the  list  of  capital  crimes.  By  Penn's  frame 
capital  punishment  was  made  to  cover  the  one  crime  of 
first-degree  murder,  a  notable  advance  from  the  English 
code.  Sir  William  Keith,  the  Deputy-Governor,  suggested 
to  the  Quaker  legislature  that  their  contention  against 
oaths  would  better  stand  against  the  chance  of  a  Crown 
veto  if  it  were  combined  with  an  extension  of  the  list  of 
crimes  punishable  by  death.  The  legislature  made  no 
objections.  The  year  that  William  Penn  died  his  merciful 
penal  code  died  also  and  some  dozen  crimes  were  added  to 
the  criminal  list,  and  so  remained  through  all  the  colonial 
days.  It  seems  that  the  Friends  of  those  days  did  not  place 
taking  life  for  burglary,  rape,  arson  and  so  on  by  judicial 
process  as  one  of  the  iniquities  against  which  they  must 
protest  with  the  same  uncompromising  vigor  which  they 
displayed  against  oaths. 


WILLIAM  PENN  47 

In  the  main  however  they  were  merciful  to  the  prisoners. 
The  laws  made  the  jails  into  work  houses  and  reformation 
rather  than  example  or  vindictive  wrath  was  held  as  the 
object  of  detention.  Until  after  the  Revolution  the  penal 
system  of  Pennsylvania  was  held  as  something  of  a  model. 
They  took  also  those  incapacitated  by  age  or  sickness  under 
their  care.  The  first  hospital  of  America  was  their  work, 
and  the  "  bettering  house  "  for  convalescents  was  unique. 
Their  acceptance  of  the  list  of  capital  crimes  seems  out  of 
harmony  with  their  general  history  and  came  up  to  plague 
them  when  they  tried  later  to  argue  the  unlawfulness  of 
war  under  Christian  standards. 

While  the  Indian  policy  of  Penn  has  been  a  large  matter 
of  history  it  probably  did  not  seem  to  him  to  be  a  command- 
ing feature.  lTo  treat  them  with  ordinary  justice  and  to 
convert  them  to  Christianity  were  what  he  had  in  view.  As 
it  turned  out  the  latter  did  not  seem  nearly  so  capable  of 
accomplishment  through  Quaker  influence  as  through  Mo- 
ravian. When  the  Friends  told  them  that  there  was  some- 
thing within  them  which  condemned  wrong  and  encouraged 
right  they  grunted  approval  but  did  not  join  the  Society. 
They  respected  Quaker  morality  and  responded  to  good 
treatment,  but  the  Moravian  Indians  were  a  considerable 
and  loyal  Christian  group. 

Buying  their  land  was  not  a  new  thing  in  colonial  Amer- 
ica. It  had  been  done  at  times  in  New  England  and  New 
York  and  more  sparingly  in  the  South.  The  Swedes  and 
Dutch  had  adopted  it  in  the  Delaware  Valley  before  the 
time  of  Penn.  In  fact  the  Indians  sold  their  rights  so 
cheaply  that  it  was  folly  for  settlers  to  refuse  the  bargain. 
When  the  Founder  instructed  his  cousin  Markham  to  buy 
up  his  province  by  piecemeal  in  advance  of  settlement  he 
was  doing  the  common  as  well  as  the  politic  thing.  He  fol- 
lowed this  up  after  he  came  himself  to  America  only  omit- 


48      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ting  the  strong  drink  which  Markham  had  included  among 
the  purchase  goods.  He  evidently  intended  never  to  sell 
to  colonists  until  all  native  rights  were  extinguished,  and 
where  two  claimants  appeared  for  the  same  land,  as  the  Iro- 
quois and  Delawares  for  the  Susquehanna  Valley,  he  bought 
of  both.  This  policy  worked  well  in  his  days  for  he  could 
readily  buy  ahead  of  the  incoming  tide  of  immigrants. 
Later  when  the  great  crowds  of  Germans  and  Scotch-Irish 
came  in,  who  cared  but  little  for  Indian  rights,  under  the 
less  careful  management  of  his  sons  trouble  resulted.  The 
Indians  began  to  see  that  they  were  losing  everything  and 
refused  to  sell  and  very  doubtful  measures  were  resorted 
to  to  get  a  title. 

It  was  not  so  much  the  simple  fact  of  purchase  or  the 
great  Shackamaxon  Treaty  of  good  will  and  amity,  immor- 
talized in  history  and  on  canvas,  which  the  Indians  appre- 
ciated, as  the  fairness  of  all  transactions.  This  the  Indian 
sense  of  justice  would  respond  to.  They  were  never  de- 
ceived by  false  maps  or  compass  bearings.  The  measure 
of  land  by  day's  walks  was  fairly  made.  Furs  were  bought 
by  standard  weights  and  cloth  was  sold  by  standard  meas- 
ures. While  they  loved  firewater,  in  their  sober  moments 
they  would  admit  that  the  efforts  to  keep  it  from  them  were 
dictated  by  unselfish  motives.  All  this  developed  in  the  In- 
dian mind  the  feeling  that  Onas  and  his  brethren  were  really 
fair  minded  friends  to  be  trusted ;  —  a  feeling  which  made 
life  secure  and  easy  all  through  the  early  days  of  settlement, 
which  saved  the  frontier  Quakers  from  the  tomahawk  when 
ill-treatment  by  others  had  sent  the  red  men  on  the  war 
path,  and  which  lasted  for  scores  of  years  when  the  Dela- 
ware Indians  were  moved  first  to  Ohio,  then  to  Kansas  and 
Oklahoma.  Other  colonial  governments  did  not  start  with 
the  idea  of  murdering  the  natives  or  even  of  stealing  their 
land  or  supplies.     But  individual  settlers  were  knaves,  per- 


WILLIAM  PENN  49 

sonal  diflSculties  arose,  the  whites  stood  by  one  another 
right  or  wrong,  and  the  trouble  led  to  war  for  which  old 
testament  morality  easily  found  an  excuse.  Penn  re- V 
strained  his  traders.  Though  pressed  for  funds  he  refused 
to  sell  monopolies  of  Indian  trade  lest  advantage  should  be 
taken  of  the  natives.  An  intending  purchaser  says  with 
some  surprise,  "He  (W.  P.)  is  offered  great  things  —  6,000 
pounds  for  a  monopoly  in  trade  which  he  refused.  ...  I 
believe  truly  he  does  aim  more  at  justice  and  righteousness 
and  spreading  of  truth  than  at  his  own  particular  gain." 
This  explains  perhaps  more  truly  than  purchases  of  land 
and  treaties,  the  conditions  of  peace  and  quiet  for  so  long  a 
time  on  the  Pennsylvania  frontiers.  Penn  practiced  only 
ordinary  justice  and  it  is  a  commentary  on  the  times  that 
this  should  have  been  considered  unique. 

The  relations  were  almost  too  friendly.  The  Indians 
were  indefatigable  visitors.  The  kings  and  sachems,  and 
a  large  number  seemed  necessary  to  maintain  traditions, 
would  camp  on  the  grounds  or  in  the  houses  of  Friends,  on 
every  excuse,  to  be  entertained  by  their  rather  unwilling 
hosts.  The  Friends  would  not  usually  supply  liquor  but 
others  would,  and  the  guests,  not  always  cleanly,  were  not 
in  the  highest  degree  acceptable.  In  spite  of  the  verbose 
and  metaphorical  illustrations  of  eloquence  of  the  chiefs, 
expressing  undying  gratitude  and  helpfulness,  which  the 
whites  would  do  their  best  to  equal,  and  the  interchange  of 
wampum,  such  a  conference  usually  ended  with  a  sense  of 
relief  on  the  part  of  the  entertainers.  On  the  other  hand 
it  was  convenient  for  the  country  Friends  to  leave  their 
children  in  the  care  of  Indian  neighbors,  which  they  did 
with  a  feeling  of  security  when  they  went  to  Meeting  in 
Philadelphia.  Making  allowance  for  differing  habits  and 
ideas  the  relations  between  the  races  seemed  perfectly  nat- 
ural and  such  a  thing  as  war  was  unthought  of  till,  some  60 


50      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

years  after  the  settlement,  white  injustice  began  the  aliena- 
tion. 

The  most  troublesome  feature  of  Penn's  government  was 
one  of  which  nothing  was  said  or  suggested  in  his  frame  — 
(jihe  matter  of  martial  defense.  This  was  left  to  be  decided 
when  the  emergency  arose.  Perm  himself  had  been  une- 
quivocal in  his  condemnation  of  war  in  his  earlier  writings. 
"  If  they  (the  Friends)  can  not  fight  for  it  (civil  govern- 
ment) neither  can  they  fight  against  it,  which  is  no  mean 
security  to  any  state."  He  accepted  however  in  his  charter 
the  post  of  captain  general  of  the  army  with  power  "  to 
make  war  and  pursue  the  enemies  and  robbers  aforesaid 
as  well  by  sea  as  by  land,  yea  even  without  the  limits  of 
said  province  and  by  God's  assistance  to  vanquish  and  take 
them  and  being  taken  to  put  them  to  death  by  the  law  of 
war,  etc."  This  would  seem  to  be  ample  authority  for  a 
Quaker  to  fight  if  he  wanted  to.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  try 
to  create  an  ample  police  force  and  frequently  reproves  his 
colonists  for  their  too  easy  tolerance  of  vice.  There  was  con- 
siderable pugnacity  in  his  disposition  which  the  exigencies  of 
government  frequently  excited.  He  evidently  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  draw  the  line  between  a  police  and  an  army,  as  also 
did  his  people.  They  would  probably  have  made  a  stronger 
case  if  they  had  taken  the  position  that  the  objection  was  to 
the  methods  of  warfare,  the  killing,  the  invasion  of  rights, 
the  hatred  engendered,  which  are  inevitable  accompani- 
ments, which  violate  Christ's  idea  of  the  dominance  of  love, 
and  which  did  not  necessarily  exist  in  police  duty,  exer- 
cised for  protection  of  life  and  property  rather  than  for 
destruction. 

They  said  in  effect:  We  are  not  absolute  non-resistants 
but  we  stop  resistance  when  it  becomes  in  itself  criminal 
according  to  the  moral  law  as  our  consciences  see  it.  We 
do  not  define  the  exact  line  where  criminality  begins  but  war 


WILLIAM  PENN  51 

and  its  practices  are  for  us  manifestly  over  the  line  and 
therefore  we  can  not  accept  any  responsibility. 
I  His  great  plan  for  a  diet  of  nations  of  1693  to  which  all 
/disputes  should  be  presented  for  settlement,  a  plan  far  in 
^^dvance  of  his  times,  contains  a  clause  which  seems  to  en- 
dorse an  international  police,  which  practically  would  be 
an  army.     He  says: 

"  If  any  of  the  sovereignties  that  constitute  these  imperial 
states  shall  refuse  to  submit  their  claims  or  pretensions  to 
them  or  to  abide  and  perform  the  judgment  thereof  and 
seek  their  remedy  by  arms  or  delay  their  compliance  be- 
yond the  time  prefixt  in  these  resolutions,  all  the  other  sov- 
ereignties united  as  one  strength  shall  compel  the  submis- 
sion and  performance  of  the  sentence,  with  damages  to  the 
suffering  party,  and  charges  to  the  sovereignties  that  obliged 
their  submission." 

This  may  or  may  not  mean  a  military  force  when  political 
and  economic  pressure  fail.  In  another  part  of  his  scheme 
we  find  the  following:  "  Their  Saviour  has  told  them  that 
he  came  to  save  not  to  destroy  the  Lives  of  Men;  to  give 
and  plant  peace  among  men;  and  if  in  any  sense  he  may 
be  said  to  send  war,  it  is  the  Holy  War  indeed,  for  it  is 
against  the  Devil  and  not  against  the  persons  of  men."  It 
is  evident  therefore  that  even  in  this  great  plan  so  far  in 
advance  of  his  time,  so  in  harmony  with  the  best  apparent 
tendencies  of  our  time,  intended  to  bring  actual  results 
among  nations  as  they  were,  his  place  for  an  armed  force 
would  be  slight. 

The  basic  idea,  as  nearly  as  one  can  tell,  of  the  Friends 
in  Pennsylvania  seems  to  have  been  freedom  of  conscience 
for  every  one  on  both  sides,  on  the  question  of  war.  They 
themselves  would  not  serve  in  an  army  or  support  it  except 
in  so  far  as  war  taxes  were  so  inextricably  mixed  with  others 
that  they  could  not  well  draw  any  line.    Rather  than  do  so 


52      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

they  would  give  up  place,  and  if  necessary  suffer  distraint 
of  goods.  They  would  also  have  gone  to  jail  as  happened 
during  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  supremacy  of  con- 
science over  any  state  commands  was  a  well  developed  and 
undoubted  part  of  their  doctrine. 

On  the  other  hand  they  would  not  interfere  with  those 
who  thought  that  armed  defense  was  a  duty.  The 
Assembly  refused  to  enact  laws  which  required  men  to  serve 
in  the  militia,  because  it  was  known  that  the  Friends  would 
not  obey  and  even  if  the  law  made  allowance  for  con- 
scientious objectors,  they  would  not  force  others  to  a 
service  which  they  declined  for  themselves.  Voluntary 
militia  were  formed  by  Franklin  and  others  for  frontier 
protection  at  private  expense,  and  the  only  objection  made 
by  the  Quaker  Assembly  was  to  the  taking  of  farm  laborers 
before  their  debt  for  passage  money,  for  which  they  had 
agreed  to  work  for  a  term  of  years,  had  been  liquidated. 

Hence  appeared  the  convenience  of  a  non-Quaker  Dep- 
uty-Governor which  Penn  provided.  He  could  if  necessary 
raise  a  militia,  or  announce  an  English  declaration  of  war, 
or  build  a  fort  when  he  could  get  the  means,  without  any 
protests  from  conscience.  Thus  in  1689  when  Governor 
Blackwell  was  at  the  head  of  affairs,  it  was  proposed  that  a 
militia  be  formed  to  protect  the  province  against  a  possible 
attack  by  the  French.  His  mixed  Council  was  asked  to 
aid.  The  non-Quaker  part  approved.  The  Friends  desired 
not  to  be  consulted.  Samuel  Carpenter  said :  "  I  am  not 
against  those  that  will  put  themselves  into  defence  but  it 
being  contrary  to  the  judgment  of  a  great  part  of  the  people 
and  mine  too  I  can  not  advise  the  thing.  ...  If  we  must  be 
forced  to  it  I  suppose  we  shall  choose  rather  to  suffer  than 
to  do  it,  as  we  have  done  formerly."  "  We  would  not  tie 
other  hands  but  we  can  not  act." 

Thus    matters    stood     in     the     following    years.     The 


WILLIAM  PENN  53 

Assembly  would  not  vote  money  for  warlike  measures  di- 
rectly. Once  they  extracted  a  promise  from  the  Governor 
that  "  it  should  not  be  dipt  in  blood."  Once  they  sent  word 
to  the  King  that  they  would  obey  his  commands  "  as  far  as 
our  religious  persuasions  shall  permit."  Once  again  they 
said,  "  Though  we  can  not  for  conscience  sake  comply  .  .  . 
yet  in  point  of  gratitude  of  the  Queen  for  her  great  and 
many  favors  to  us  we  have  resolved  to  raise  a  present  of 
500  pounds." 

The  usual  preamble  to  a  money  bill  became  at  a  later 
date  "  As  many  of  the  people  of  the  province  are  of  the 
people  called  Quakers  who  though  they  do  not  as  the  world 
is  now  circumstanced  condemn  the  use  of  arms  in  others  yet 
are  principled  against  it  themselves,  etc."  This  position, 
that  fighting  is  right  for  those  who  thought  so  and  wrong 
for  others,  may  do  for  the  determination  of  personal  duty, 
but  if  they  believed  that  right  things  were  good  for  the  state 
can  hardly  be  defended.  As  legislators  for  the  province 
every  deviation  from  strict  rectitude,  as  they  understood  it, 
was  in  the  interests  of  bad  government  which  they  were 
bound  to  discourage.  It  must  be  admitted  however  that 
these  early  Pennsylvanians  were  traveling  over  unknown 
and  difiicult  ground.  It  was  the  first  attempt  to  govern  a 
country  on  principles  of  absolute  right.  They  succeeded 
for  70  years  with  great  success  by  a  reasonably  close  ad- 
herence to  principle.  Each  slight  compromise  they  hoped 
would  be  the  last.  When  the  line  of  manifest  infidelity  was 
passed  they  resigned  rather  than  make  the  further  sacrifice 
of  principle. 

Liberty  and  Peace  were  the  two  great  ideals  committed 
to  them.  The  one  has  triumphed  and  become  a  national,  as 
soon  it  will  be  a  world  ideal.  Peace  is  delayed  but  it  too 
will  be  triumphant  and  it  will  be  recognized  that  the  pioneer 
work  was  done  in  the  province  of  William  Penn. 


54      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Bancroft  sums  up  the  attempt  of  William  Pemi:  "  Thus 
did  Penn  perfect  his  government.  An  executive  dependent 
for  its  support  on  the  people;  all  subordinate  elective  offi- 
cers elected  by  the  people;  the  judiciary  dependent  for  its 
existence  on  the  people;  all  legislation  originating  exclu- 
sively with  the  people ;  no  forts,  no  armed  force,  no  militia ; 
no  established  church;  no  differences  of  rank;  and  a  harbor 
opened  for  the  reception  of  all  mankind  of  every  nation,  of 
children  of  every  language  and  every  creed:  — could  it  be 
that  the  invisible  power  of  reason  would  be  able  to  order 
and  restrain,  to  punish  crime  and  to  protect  property." 

One  can  imagine  with  what  boundless  enthusiasm,  with 
these  ideals  struggling  into  action,  William  Penn  in  October, 
1682,  sailed  up  the  Delaware  in  The  Welcome,  surveyed  his 
noble  province  spread  out  before  him  and  consecrated  him- 
self to  his  life  work.  In  the  bloom  of  manhood,  having 
already  done  great  things,  he  must  have  felt  that  the  great- 
est were  yet  to  come.  The  problem  was  still  to  be  solved, 
hidden  rocks  might  wreck  him,  but  relying  on  his  own  fer- 
tile brain,  the  support  of  his  coreligionists,  and  more  than 
all  upon  the  Divine  aid  which  he  had  preached  and  expe- 
rienced in  the  past  he  was  ready  to  try  the  Holy  Experi- 
ment, 


THOMAS   LLOYD 

The  Lloyds  of  Dolobran  in  Montgomeryshire  were  an 
ancient  and  honorable  family  which  claimed  descent  from 
the  old  princes  of  Wales.  Thomas  Lloyd  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 17th,  1640.  As  were  also  his  older  brothers  Charles 
and  John  he  was  educated  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  Both 
Charles  and  Thomas  joined  the  Society  of  Friends  and, 
especially  the  former,  suffered  severely  in  person  and  estate 
on  account  of  their  fidelity  to  its  principles. 

These  Welsh  Friends  took  a  certain  un-Quaker-Iike  pride 
that  they  were  descendants  of  the  old  Britons,  a  proud  and 
warlike  people  who  had  never  been  conquered.  Yet  George 
Fox  with  his  preaching  of  peace  and  Divine  communion 
and  the  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  life  which  flowed  from  it 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  them.  A  minister  of  Denbigh- 
shire heard  of  him  and  sent  two  of  his  congregation  "  to  trie 
the  Quakers."  Fox  in  his  Journal  tells  the  result:  "When 
these  triers  came  down  among  us  the  power  of  the  Lord 
overcame  them,  and  they  were  both  of  them  convinced  of 
the  truth.  So  they  stayed  some  time  with  us  and  then  re- 
turned into  Wales,  where  afterwards  one  of  them  departed 
from  his  convincement,  but  the  other,  whose  name  was 
John  ap  John,  abode  in  the  truth  and  received  a  gift  in  the 
ministry  to  which  he  continued  faithful." 

John  ap  John  became  the  apostle  of  Quakerism  in  Wales. 
He  aided  in  buying  the  Barony  of  William  Penn,  but  he 
never  came  to  America.  He  died  at  a  great  age,  venerated 
as  a  patriarch  of  the  flock. 

Equally  influential  with  him  was  Richard  Davies.    He 

55 


56      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

met  an  itinerant  preacher  who  had  some  influence  with  him, 
but  his  Quakerism  seems  to  have  arisen  almost  spontan- 
eously. The  thee  and  the  thou,  the  refusal  to  doff  the  hat, 
to  swear,  and  to  make  forcible  resistance,  the  confident  be- 
lief in  direct  teaching  as  a  practical  guide  in  all  matters, 
the  silent  worship  and  the  unconquerable  sense  of  duty, 
sprang  fully  developed  into  being.  He  went  to  London  to 
enter  into  business,  but  the  need  of  his  Welsh  neighbors 
pressed  on  his  heart.  He  tells  the  story  of  his  courtship, 
preparatory  to  his  migration:  "  So  the  Lord  gave  me  a  little 
time,  and  he  alone  provided  an  help-meet  for  me;  for  I 
prayed  unto  Him  that  she  might  be  of  His  own  providing, 
for  it  was  not  yet  manifest  to  me  where  she  was,  or  who  she 
was.  But  one  time,  as  I  was  at  Horslydown  meeting  in 
Southark,  I  heard  a  woman  Friend  open  her  mouth,  by  way 
of  testimony,  against  an  evil  ranting  spirit,  that  did  oppose 
Friends  much  in  those  days.  It  came  to  me  from  the  Lord, 
that  that  woman  was  to  be  my  wife,  and  to  go  with  me  to 
the  country,  and  to  be  an  help-meet  for  me.  After  meeting 
I  drew  somewhat  near  to  her,  but  spoke  nothing,  nor  took 
any  acquaintance  with  her,  nor  did  I  know  when  or  where 
I  should  see  her  again.  I  was  very  willing  to  let  the  Lord 
order  it  as  it  seemed  best  to  Himself,  and  therein  I  was 
easy ;  and  in  time  the  Lord  brought  us  acquainted  with  one 
another,  and  she  confessed  she  had  some  sight  of  the  same 
thing  that  I  had  seen  concerning  her.  So  after  some  time  we 
parted,  and  I  was  freely  resigned  to  the  will  of  God;  and 
when  we  came  together  again,  I  told  her,  if  the  Lord  did 
order  her  to  be  my  wife,  she  must  come  with  me  to  a  strange 
country,  where  there  were  no  Friends  but  what  God  in  time 
might  call  and  gather  to  Himself.  Upon  a  little  considera- 
tion she  said,  if  the  Lord  should  order  it  so,  she  must  go  with 
her  husband,  though  it  were  to  the  wilderness;  and  being 
somewhat  sensible  to  the  workings  of  God  upon  her  spirit 


THOMAS  LLOYD  57 

in  this  matter,  she  was  willing  to  condescend  in  her  mind  to 
what  He  wrought  in  her ;  but  by  hearkening  to  one  who  had 
not  well  weighed  the  matter,  she  became  disobedient  to 
what  God  had  revealed  to  her,  which  brought  great  sorrow 
and  trouble  upon  her.  I  went  to  see  her  in  this  poor  con- 
dition, and  I  rested  satisfied  with  the  will  of  God  in  this 
concern,  being  freely  resigned,  if  the  Lord  had  wrought  the 
same  thing  in  her,  as  was  in  me,  to  receive  her  as  His  gift 
to  me;  and  after  some  time,  we  waiting  upon  the  Lord  to- 
gether, she  arose  and  declared  before  me,  and  the  other 
Friend  who  had  begot  doubts  and  reasonings  in  her  mind, 
that  in  the  name  and  power  of  God  she  consented  to  be  my 
wife,  and  to  go  along  with  me,  whither  the  Lord  should  order 
us;  and  I  said,  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  I  receive  thee  as  the 
gift  of  God  to  me.  So  I  rested  satisfied  with  the  will  of 
God,  for  a  farther  accomplishment  of  it." 

John  ap  John  and  Richard  Davies  were  the  apostles  of 
Quakerism  in  Wales.  Multitudes  joined  them  and  the 
usual  persecutions  followed.  It  was  only  necessary  to  offer 
them  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  insure  a  legal  imprisonment 
and  the  ministers  and  magistrates  were  in  harmony  in  their 
efforts  to  crush  out  the  heresy.  A  priest  offended  by  a  fail- 
ure to  defeat  Davies  in  argument  had  an  oath  tendered  him 
and  he  spent  years  in  jail. 

Charles  Lloyd,  the  chief  man  of  the  district,  was  reached 
by  the  power  and  fidelity  of  the  Friends.  Richard  Davies 
tells  the  story:  "There  came  in  Charles  Lloyd,  of 
Dolobran,  who  was  formerly  in  commission  of  the  peace  for 
Montgomeryshire,  and  had  been  in  election  to  be  High 
Sheriff  of  that  county,  and  also  several  of  his  well-meaning 
neighbors. 

"  The  Lord  was  not  wanting,  but  afforded  unto  us  His 
good  presence.  Life  and  power  came  from  Him,  that 
reached  the  hearts  and  understandings  of  most  of  the  people 


58      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

then  present.  .  .  .  The  next  morning  we  went  to  visit 
Charles  Lloyd,  of  Dolobran,  who  tenderly  received  us,  and 
several  that  were  at  the  meeting  came  there  that  day,  where 
we  had  a  sweet,  comfortable,  refreshing  time,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord.  .  .  . 

"  The  report  of  this  meeting  went  through  -'the  country, 
some  saying  that  most  of  that  side  of  the  '^county  were 
turned  Quakers. 

"  Whereupon  divers  were  sent  for,  before  Edward,  Lord 
Herbert,  Baron  of  Cherbury,  to  a  place  where  he  then  lived, 
called  Llyssin,  about  3  miles  from  Dolobran. 

"  After  some  discourse  with  them,  Lord  Herbert  sent 
them  to  Welshpool  to  prison,  for  refusing  to  take  the  oaths 
of  allegiance  and  supremacy  which  they  refused,  because 
they  could  not  swear  at  all,  they  being  six  sent  together, 
viz.,  Charles  Lloyd,  Hugh  David,  Richard  David,  Cad- 
wallader  Edwards,  Ann  Lawrence,  and  Sarah  Wilson." 

Charles  Lloyd  was  "  put  into  a  little  smoky  room  and  did 
lie  upon  a  little  straw,"  but  his  brother  Thomas  interceded 
for  him  and  he  was  allowed  to  hire  a  prison  for  himself 
where  the  Friends  went  to  hold  meetings.  'T^his  condition 
of  semi-imprisonment  lasted  from  1662  till,  ten  years  later, 
Charles  II  made  his  declaration  of  indulgence  which  opened 
many  prison  doors  and  Charles  Lloyd  was  able  to  return  to 
Dolobran.    Thomas  Lloyd  was  liberated  at  the  same  time.^ 

In  1660  the  Lloyd  brothers  had  a  friendly  public  dis- 
cussion with  the  Bishop  of  Asaph,  turning  principally  on  the 
necessity  of  water  baptism.  ^ 

^  In  the  Journal  of  George  Whitehead  printed  in  1725  we  find 
an  interesting  description  of  the  efforts  made  to  circulate  this 
declaration  of  indulgence  so  that  official  information  could  reach 
all  the  prisons  including  certain  remote  districts  of  England  and 
Wales. 

"^  The  manuscript  account  of  this  discussion  is  now  in  the  cus- 
tody of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 


THOMAS   LLOYD  59 

It  was  a  temperate  and  courteous  occasion.  The  Bishop 
said  "  He  did  not  expect  so  much  could  be  said  by  any  on 
so  little  warning  and  that  he  did  not  expect  so  much  civility 
among  the  Quakers."  "  He  highly  commended  Thomas 
Lloyd  "  who  had  the  chief  part  for  the  Friends,  but  the  dis- 
cussion made  no  converts  to  either  side. 

The  toleration  of  Charles  II.  did  not  last  long.  Sometimes 
it  was  the  refusal  to  swear,  sometimes  it  was  the  wearing  of 
the  hat,  sometimes  attendance  at  meetings,  that  was  the 
excuse,  but  back  of  it  was  the  hope  to  check  the  preaching 
which  was  depopulating  the  old  churches  and  introducing 
new  customs  in  religion  and  society.  There  was  the  con- 
tinual prospect  of  imprisonment,  of  distraint  of  goods,  of 
civil  disabilities,  of  popular  opprobrium  awaiting  the  con- 
verts. With  such  a  home-loving  people  the  trial  must  have 
been  very  sore  indeed  to  induce  them  to  consider  expatria- 
tion. 

There  now  opened  a  prospect  which  would  rob  this  last 
remedy  of  some  of  its  severity.  William  Penn  had  secured 
Pennsylvania  as  a  haven  of  rest  for  Quakers,  a  New 
Wales,  where  they  could  retain  their  old  language  and  cus- 
toms and  have  free  course  for  their  new  religion. 

So  a  delegation  of  them  including  John  ap  John,  Richard 
Davies  and  Charles  Lloyd  went  up  to  London  to  see  Penn. 
They  asked  for  a  "  Barony  "  where  they  might  preserve  all 
that  was  dear  to  Welshmen,  free  from  the  intrusion  of  oth- 
ers, free  in  local  matters  from  governmental  interference 
and  of  course  free  from  molestation  in  matters  of  con- 
science. 

There  is  unfortunately  no  writing  to  prove  exactly  what 
was  promised,  and  probably  never  was.  Penn  wrote  his 
Surveyor  Thomas  Holme  that  sufficient  Welshmen  were 
coming  to  occupy  40,000  acres  and  adds,  "  I  do  charge  thee 
and  strictly  require  thee  to  lay  out  said  tract."    As  Hugh 


60      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Roberts  wrote  him  ten  years  later.  "  I  can  truly  say  that 
many  of  us  had  never  come  here  but  because  of  the  love  and 
unity  and  confidence  we  had  in  thee." 

The  tract  was  laid  out.  It  began  opposite  Philadelphia 
and  extended  westward  and  northward  along  the  Schuyl- 
kill River,  the  country  now  traversed  by  the  main  line  of  the 
Pennsylvania  R.  R.,  many  of  whose  stations  still  perpetu- 
ate the  Welsh  names. 

The  stream  of  immigration  began  immediately  and  cer- 
tain parts  of  Wales  were  almost  depopulated.  Large  tracts 
of  5000  acres  were  bought  by  the  more  wealthy  and  divided 
among  others.  The  whole  of  the  40,000  acres  was  not  im- 
mediately taken  however  and  this  made  trouble  later.  But 
within  and  around  the  original  tract  many  Welshmen, 
Quakers  and  others  found  homes. 

The  leaders  of  the  Quaker  movement  in  Wales  however 
did  not  come.  They  bought  land  for  their  more  impecu- 
nious brethren  but  their  place  was  at  home  where  their  suf- 
ferings were  beginning  to  conquer  the  spirit  of  persecution. 
They  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  Toleration  Act  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  in  1691  grant  them  the  right  of  affirmation 
instead  of  the  oath  and  other  liberties  which  made  them 
reasonably  secure  from  jailing,  though  many  political  and 
social  disabilities  still  remained  to  trouble  them. 

The  younger  son,  Thomas  Lloyd,  cast  in  his  lot  with  the 
immigrants  and  became  the  leader  not  only  of  Welsh  inter- 
ests in  Pennsylvania,  but  as  well  of  the  state  and  church  in 
the  colony.  Thomas  Lloyd  landed  in  Philadelphia  on  6th 
month  (August)  20,  1683.  He  was  promptly  seized  upon 
both  by  the  meeting  and  the  state  for  important  services. 

In  these  early  days  it  was  difficult  to  separate  the  minis- 
ter and  the  magistrate.  The  same  men  held  official  posi- 
tions in  church  and  state.  The  Councilmen  and  Assembly- 
men were  frequently  preachers.    The  legislative  meetings 


THOMAS   LLOYD  6i 

were  opened  by  a  period  of  silent  devotion,  and  the  re- 
ligious meetings  had  to  change  their  times  of  holding  to 
suit  the  secular  courts.  All  the  functions  of  the  Holy  Ex- 
periment were  religious  and  all  the  religious  arrangements 
needed  the  aid  of  secular  wisdom.  It  is  convenient  how- 
ever in  the  narrative  to  separate  the  activities  of  Thomas 
Lloyd.  In  each  case  his  strong  qualities  of  leadership,  and 
perhaps  also  some  deference  paid  to  rank  when  that  rank 
won  respect  by  the  personality  of  the  man,  gave  him  imme- 
diate preeminence.  No  one  could  dispute  this,  except  dur- 
ing that  short  time  of  about  a  year  when  the  proprietor 
worked  by  his  side.  The  Quaker  would  not  remove  his  hat 
in  the  presence  of  priest  or  magistrate,  protector  or  king, 
but  he  had  to  recognize  ability  and  learning,  and  the  qual- 
ities which  gentle  nurture  and  college  training  necessarily 
produced. 

The  first  record  we  have  of  a  meeting  appointment  was 
about  two  months  after  his  arrival  when  he  was  made  a 
member  of  a  committee  to  repair  the  meeting  house.  Im- 
mediately following  this  he  was  appointed  on  another  whose 
miscellaneous  duties  were  to  care  for  the  poor,  renovate  the 
property,  encourage  Friends  to  attend  meeting  and  raise 
money  for  general  purposes.  Then  followed  all  sorts  of 
duties,  to  write  epistles  to  England,  to  adjust  quarrels 
among  citizens,  to  sign  certificates  of  membership  when  a 
ship  was  about  to  sail  for  England.  In  practically  every 
case  his  name  was  first  mentioned  on  the  committees,  which 
either  meant  chairmanship  or  a  recognition  of  superior 
fitness. 

His  most  serious  service  as  well  as  the  most  harassing 
for  a  sensitive  man,  for  it  meant  the  breaking  of  intimate 
friendships,  was  in  connection  with  George  Keith.  The 
two  scholars  had  been  associated  on  many  important  labors 
in  the  church,  and  now  they  were  to  be  the  leaders  in  oppos- 


62      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ing  parties  which  shook  Philadelphia  Quakerism  to  its 
depths.  Personalities  were  used  unsparingly,  at  least  on 
one  side,  and  the  matter  was  fought  out  to  its  bitter  ter- 
mination. 

George  Keith  was  born  in  Scotland  about  1638  and  edu- 
cated as  a  Presbyterian.  He  studied  at  the  University  of 
Aberdeen,  and  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from 
that  institution.  Bishop  Burnet  says  that  he  "was  the  most 
learned  man  ever  in  the  Quaker  sect,  well  versed  both  in 
Oriental  tongues  and  in  philosophy  and  mathematics." 
About  1663  or  1664  he  joined  the  Friends,  and  for  twenty- 
seven  years  was  in  favor,  sharing  with  the  other  leaders  of 
the  Society  the  full  measure  of  writing,  public  discussion 
and  persecution.  He  had  the  true  spirit  of  the  early 
Friends.    He  said  in  1665: 

"It  lay  upon  me  from  the  Lord  to  depart  from  these 
teachers  who  could  not  point  me  to  the  living  knowledge  of 
God  where  I  could  find  it;  and  I  came  and  heard  men  and 
women  who  were  taught  of  God  who  pointed  me  to  the  true 
principle;  and  though  some  of  them  could  not  read  a  letter 
yet  I  found  them  wiser  than  all  the  teachers  I  ever  formerly 
had  been  under." 

Many  other  of  his  testimonies  are  eloquent  of  the  great 
peace  and  rapturous  joy  that  came  into  his  heart  as  the 
result  of  the  Quaker  teaching  of  God's  direct  conmaunion 
with  men  and  his  own  experience  of  it.  He  found  "the 
gates  of  the  heavenly  paradise"  opened  in  himself  and  came 
to  have  a  great  love  for  all  mankind.  It  is  unnecessary  for 
our  purpose  to  go  over  the  details  of  his  early  life.  His 
books  and  sufferings  both  betray  the  unflinching  spirit  of 
the  early  Quaker  apostle.  He  had  his  full  share  of  impris- 
onments and  beatings,  which  he  bore  with  humility.  He 
was  especially  effective  in  public  discussions  and  vigorously 
argued   his   new   convictions    before   hostile    audiences   of 


THOMAS  LLOYD  63 

Presbyterian  divines.  In  1670  he  published  his  "Benefit, 
Advantage  and  Glory  of  Silent  Meetings,"  a  most  sympa- 
thetic treatment  of  the  subject  written  in  Aberdeen  prison. 
"There  are  immediate  revelations  now-a-days"  is  the  em- 
phatic point.  In  1675  he  debated  in  company  with  Robert 
Barclay  the  principles  of  his  sect  before  the  students  of 
the  University  of  Aberdeen.  He  joined  with  George  Fox, 
William  Penn,  and  Robert  Barclay  in  a  visit  to  Germany, 
and  worked  in  great  unity  with  them.  In  1684  he  came  to 
New  Jersey  where  as  surveyor  he  laid  out  the  division  line 
between  East  and  West  Jersey.  In  1689,  at  the  opening 
of  the  Friends'  Public  School,  he  was  made  headmaster,  but 
gave  it  up  in  a  year,  finding  that  his  abilities  needed  freer 
scope  than  in  a  school  of  young  boys.  Up  to  this  time  no 
serious  ripple  of  discontent  with  Friends  or  of  Friends  with 
him  seems  to  have  appeared. 

There  now  began  to  come  out  in  his  sermons  and  dis- 
courses certain  doctrinal  views,  which  were  looked  upon 
with  suspicion  by  many  Friends  and  received  with  enthusi- 
asm by  others.  He  charged  that  Friends  had  in  their 
preaching  of  the  inward  Christ  neglected  the  outward.  He 
asserted  that  ministers  declared  that  they  could  be  saved 
by  the  Christ  within  them  "  without  anything  else,"  and 
hence  that  they  undervalued  the  historic  Christ  and  the 
Scriptures. 

These  doctrinal  questions  were  mingled  with  others  of  a 
more  practical  nature.  He  charged  a  general  slackness  in 
the  administration  of  the  Discipline.  The  magistrates  were 
often  ministers,  and  in  their  civil  functions  would  arrest 
offenders  by  force  but  without  loss  of  life  or  limb.  This 
Keith  declared  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  profession  of  non- 
resistance  of  evil. 

In  these  early  days  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers 
were  so  closely  united  in  practice,  if  not  in  theory,  that  it 


64      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

was  difiBcult  to  distinguish  them,  and  disputes  in  one  court 
were  easily  transferred  to  another. 

There  were  doubtless,  owing  to  the  emphasis  Friends 
placed  on  inspiration  as  the  sole  endowment  for  the  minis- 
try, a  number  of  crude  and  narrow  preachers  among  them. 
The  doctrine  of  direct  divine  leading  unto  all  truth  was  so 
simple  and  had  such  sanction  from  the  leaders  of  the  So- 
ciety that  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  constituted  for  many 
the  one  staple  subject  of  discourse.  A  scholar  like  George 
Keith,  whether  in  general  harmony  with  them  or  not,  could 
not  fail  to  see  the  lack  of  perspective  and  breadth  of  such 
men.  That  there  was  no  ground  for  his  doctrinal  charges 
would  be  difficult  to  maintain.  That  Friends  denied  the 
offices  and  failed  to  recognize  the  divinity  of  the  Christ  of 
Judea  was  in  answer  to  his  challenge  emphatically  contra- 
dicted by  official  assertions  both  in  Pennsylvania  and  Lon- 
don. The  Friends  across  the  water  sent  a  special  message 
urging  a  full  acceptance  of  the  biblical  account  of  Christ, 
while  not  weakening  in  the  least  in  their  belief  that  the  light 
of  Christ  reached  all  men  whether  they  had  this  account  or 
not.  The  leading  Philadelphians  issued  another  paper  de- 
fining their  position  in  full  in  the  same  strain.  It  was  urged 
upon  Keith  that  the  doctrinal  shortcomings  of  individuals 
should  not  be  used  against  the  Society.  It  was  also  urged 
that  for  a  score  of  years  while  the  same  conditions  existed 
he  had  been  a  strong  defender  of  its  teachings. 

It  was  quite  as  much  the  spirit  as  the  doctrine  of  George 
Keith  to  which  the  Friends  objected.  He  loved  contro- 
versy, and  in  the  days  when  he  was  in  favor  used  the  se- 
vere language  of  his  time  against  the  opponents  of  Quaker- 
ism. His  open  arguments  with  Cotton  Mather  and  other 
New  England  divines  left  but  little  to  choose  between  them 
as  to  the  courtesies  of  debate.  But  to  call  the  leaders  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting  by  opprobrious  names,  to  get  excited  and 


THOMAS  LLOYD  65 

angry  in  discussion,  and  to  make  statements  which  he  had 
to  retract,  were  evidences  of  "brittleness"  of  temper,  accord- 
ing to  his  opponents,  which  were  inconsistent  with  a  claim 
to  spiritual  guidance.  He  was  evidently  hot-tempered  and 
pugnacious.  He  called  Thomas  Lloyd,  then  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor, and  a  man  of  amiable  disposition  and  excellent  abil- 
ities and  education,  "  an  impudent  man  and  a  pitiful 
governor,"  challenged  Lloyd  to  send  him  to  jail,  and  said 
that  "  his  back  had  long  itched  to  be  whipped."  A  magis- 
trate he  called  "  an  impudent  rascal,"  and  a  meeting  of  min- 
isters he  said  were  ''  come  together  to  cloak  heresies  and 
deceit,  and  that  there  were  more  damnable  heresies  and 
doctrines  of  devils  among  the  Quakers  than  among  any 
profession  of  Protestants." 

It  was  an  age  of  rough  controversy.  His  opponents  did 
not  spare  him.  Possibly  they  better  controlled  their  tem- 
per in  debate,  but  in  the  title-page  to  one  of  their  works 
written  in  cold  blood  a  little  later  the  author  speaks  of 

"...  the  apostate  convicted  ...  in  which  his  apostacy 
from  the  Truth  and  enmity  against  it  is  manifested,  his 
Deceit  Hypocricie  and  manifold  prevarications  are  dis- 
covered, his  false  Quotations  Lyes  and  Forgeries  out  of  the 
Quakers  Books  are  detected,  etc." 

and  even  the  courteous  Thomas  Story  calls  him  "  that 
contentious  apostate  from  the  Truth  of  God  once  made 
known  to  him." 

Matters  could  not  abide  in  this  state.  Keith  had  com- 
plained to  the  Ministers'  Meeting  against  William  Stock- 
dale,  charging  him  with  saying  that  Keith  had  preached  two 
Christs.  Stockdale  denied  the  charge,  and  in  reply  said 
that  Keith  had  called  him  "  an  ignorant  heathen."  The 
meeting  blamed  them  both  and  tried  to  make  peace.  But 
it  was  too  late.  Thomas  Lloyd  and  twenty-seven  other 
ministers  issued  a  temperate  epistle  presenting  the  troubles 


66      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

they  had  with  Keith,  earnestly  appealing  to  him  to  be  rec- 
onciled and  to  lay  down  the  separate  meeting  which  he  was 
then  engaged  in  setting  up,  and  repudiating  him  as  an  au- 
thorized minister  among  Friends. 

The  ministry  and  the  magistracy  were  so  associated  that 
Keith  in  one  of  his  pamphlets  laid  himself  open  to  the 
charge  of  sedition  and  disturbance  of  the  peace  by  reviling 
Samuel  Jenings,  who  was  as  an  ecclesiastic  strongly  opposed 
to  Keith,  and  as  a  judge  and  magistrate  the  author  of  certain 
acts  against  privateers  which  Keith  bitterly  attacked.  The 
Grand  Jury  brought  in  a  true  bill,  and  Keith  and  a  friend 
were  fined  five  pounds  each,  which  fine  was  never  collected. 
The  Justices  imposing  this  fine  were  all  Friends  and  among 
Keith's  strongest  antagonists.  They  said  in  an  explanation 
to  the  public  that  they  would  endure  all  personal  reflections 
and  attacks  upon  their  religious  body  in  quiet,  but  the 
pamphlets  tended  to  revile  state  ofiicials  and  incited  to 
oppose  the  administration  of  justice. 

These  trials  bring  out  the  prominence  of  ministering 
Friends  in  civil  positions,  a  prominence  to  which  Keith  and 
his  friends  with  some  justice  objected,  but  which  naturally 
resulted  from  the  Friendly  conception  of  the  absence  of  any 
definite  line  of  distinction  between  the  preachers  as  a  class, 
and  the  other  spiritual  members  of  the  body. 

"  The  Meeting  of  Ministering  Friends  "  and  in  Seventh 
Month  (September)  1692  the  Yearly  meeting  itself  were  the^ 
ecclesiastical  courts  into  whose  hands  George  Keith  now 
fell.     The   latter   body   after   a   careful   investigation   de- 
clared: 

"  We  find  it  our  duty  to  join  with  our  brethren  in  their 
testimony  against  that  spirit  of  reviling,  railing,  lying, 
slandering,  and  falsely  accusing  which  hath  risen  and  acted 
notoriously  in  George  Keith  and  his  adherents  which  hath 
led  them  into  a  mischievous  and  hurtful  separation." 


THOMAS  LLOYD  67 

This  paper  is  signed  by  over  200  Friends  beginning  with 
Thomas  Lloyd,  including  Pastorius  and  nearly  all  those 
prominent  in  church  and  state- 
Keith  now  became  an  avowed  leader  of  a  new  sect, 
gathered  out  of  the  large  body  of  Friends.  He  set  up 
meetings  in  Philadelphia,  Burlington,  and  Bucks  County. 
His  eloquence,  learning,  and  previous  high  standing  brought 
many  to  his  ranks.  The  denial  of  the  outward  Christ  was 
his  main  subject  of  attack.  In  these  days  he  had  among 
other  public  controversies  one  with  James  Dickinson,  an 
English  minister,  in  which,  according  to  the  account  of 
Dickinson's  companion,  he  was  vanquished  "  and  went  away 
in  great  wrath."  Such  discussions  and  voluminous  writ- 
ings fanned  the  separating  spirit. 

It  was  said  many  times  that  Keith's  doctrinal  attacks 
upon  the  main  body  of  Friends  could  be  all  answered  by  his 
own  earlier  writings,  and  after  examining  these  one  is  in- 
clined to  think  the  statement  true.  He  had  often  pleaded 
the  sufficiency  of  the  Divine  Light  to  lead  into  doctrinal 
truth,  into  correct  living,  into  right  public  preaching  and 
praying;  and  it  is  impossible  to  note  any  difference  between 
his  views  and  those  of  his  friend  and  fellow-worker  and 
sufferer,  Robert  Barclay.  The  charges  he  now  made 
against  the  Philadelphia  Friends  seemed  to  indicate  a 
change  in  himself.  The  main  one,  that  Friends  considered 
the  Light  within  sufficient,  "  without  something  else,"  was 
one  to  which  his  own  early  statements  made  him  quite  as 
fairly  liable  to  attack  as  his  opponents.  But  they  both 
asserted  in  positive  terms  the  ordinary  orthodox  position 
as  to  the  outward  Christ  and  the  Scriptures.  It  seems 
impossible  to  reconcile  the  Keith  of  1670  with  the  Keith  of 
1691  and  later.  Of  course  he  had  a  perfect  right  to  change 
his  position  as  to  these  matters,  but  he  never  fairly  ad- 
mitted the  change. 


68      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

In  a  public  discussion  Thomas  Lloyd  had  said  that  one 
might  be  saved  without  the  outer  revelation  of  Christ  if  he 
had  had  no  opportunity  to  know  it.  But  Keith  said  that 
this  was  impossible,  and  that  if  such  were  Lloyd's  views 
"  he  could  not  own  him  as  a  Christian  brother,  though  he 
might  be  a  devout  heathen."  This  is  hardly  compatible 
with  his  earlier  statement,  "  God  himself  ...  is  objectively 
manifest  so  that  he  can  be  heard,  seen,  tasted,  and  felt  if 
all  Scripture  words  were  out  of  our  present  remembrance," 
or  with  many  other  similar  statements.  In  1670  he  had  de- 
fended Friends  against  Robert  Gordon,  who  made  against 
them  the  same  charges  he  was  now  preferring  against  the 
Philadelphians. 

The  controversy  was  now  carried  to  London  by  Keith 
himself,  where  we  may  leave  it  with  the  statement  that  Lon- 
don Friends  including  William  Penn  disowned  his  spirit, 
and  after  a  hot  controversy  he  joined  the  Established 
Church,  was  ordained  a  minister,  and  later  traveled  through 
the  colonies  gathering  recruits  among  his  own  followers  and 
others  into  the  fold. 

His  "  Keithian  Quakers  "  in  Pennsylvania  formed  an  op- 
position body,  separate  from  the  main  organization  of 
Friends,  and  always  opposing  their  political  leadership. 
The  latter  days  of  Thomas  Lloyd  were  embittered  by  their 
attacks,  but  this  only  seemed  to  increase  the  loyalty  of  his 
friends.  The  Keithian  party  soon  dwindled  and  disap- 
peared but  smouldering  feelings  of  hostility  did  not  entirely 
vanish  for  a  decade  or  more. 

Thomas  Lloyd  entered  the  lists  unwillingly  and  only 
when  he  saw  that  no  other  authority  but  his  could  stay  the 
tide.  Hugh  Roberts,  a  friend  of  William  Penn,^  writing 
presumably  in  1694,  tells  the  story  with  deep  feeling  but 

1  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  Vol.  18,  p.  205. 


THOMAS  LLOYD  69 

evident  fairness  and  his  testimony  is  supported  by  all  we 
know  of  the  matter. 

"  my  dear  frd  there  another  thing  yt  trubles  me  very 
much  yt  is  in  one  of  ye  two  epistles  yt  cam  from  ye  two 
weekes  meeting  in  London,  if  I  doenot  mistake  they  writ  as 
if  ye  difrence  or  falling  out  was  between  ye  two  scolars  and 
all  ye  rest  but  parties  of  both  sides,  if  you  judge  so  I  tell 
thee  you  judge  hard  of  all,  and  you  are  in  a  great  mistake 
for  I  know  to  the  contrary  for  Tho.  LI:  was  not  concernd 
a  long  time  after  he. broke  out  and  I  know  he  did  endevour 
a  prswayd  both  frds  and  to  gain  upon  him  as  much  as 
any  man  amongst  us,  and  for  a  long  tim  ye  difrence  did  not 
at  all  apear  between  Tho  LI  and  he,  but  at  last  when  he 
could  not  be  pervaild  upon  but  he  rund  frds  down  at  straint 
rate  becaus  they  refused  to  subscribe  his  creed  with  many 
other  things  of  his  (illegible)  which  frds  could  not  joyn 
withall,  it  is  true  Tho.  LI.  was  forcd  to  apear,  but  as  soon 
as  he  apeard  though  very  meeke  Loving  and  tender  he 
began  to  be  mor  eger  at  him  than  any,  for  he  thought  if  he 
could  but  run  him  down  he  could  deal  well  inufe  with  the 
rest,  and  after  this  it  is  true  Tho  was  forced  to  stand  in  ye 
front,  being  beter  quarif  (torn)  amongst  us,  this  I  do  be- 
lieve yt  ther  is  not  a  man  amongst  us  yt  can  truley  lay  to 
his  charg  not  as  much  as  a  hasty  word  or  unsavry  word  in 
all  ye  discours  yt  he  had  with  him  from  first  to  Last  but 
always  cald  him  his  ffrd  G.  K.  but  I  have  heard  many 
a  time  G  K  abusing  him  calling  him  a  poe  a  hyppocrit 
an  impudent  man  with  abundance  of  such  unsavrey  ex- 
pressions." 

The  controversy  was  certainly  something  more,  as  Hugh 
Roberts  indicated,  than  a  theological  contest  between  two 
scholars  equally  virulent  and  ambitious  for  leadership. 

On  the  same  boat  with  Lloyd  came  Francis  Daniel  Pas- 
torius,  the  pioneer  of  the  great  German  emigration  to  Penn- 
sylvania. Pastorius  could  not  then  speak  English,  nor 
Lloyd  German  but  he  had  been  educated  at  Oxford  and 
so  had  the  continental  pronunciation  of  Latin. 


70      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

"Alone  with  him  I  could  in  Latin  then  commune, 
Which  tongue  he  did  pronounce  right  in  our  German  way." 

For  William  Penn  Pastorius  had  an  unbounded  admira- 
tion which  he  expressed  in  many  ways.  "  My  pen,"  he 
says,  "  is  too  weak  to  express  the  lofty  virtues  of  this  Chris- 
tian, for  such  he  is  indeed."  This  esteem  lasted  through  all 
their  difficulties  about  the  assignment  of  land  and  through 
Penn's  troubles  in  England.  The  proprietor  cordially  re- 
turned the  appreciation.  When  in  the  country  he  regularly 
met  Pastorius  in  a  social  way,  and  in  reply  to  his  father  in 
Germany  gave  a  most  affectionate  tribute  in  Latin  to  the 
virtue  of  the  distinguished  son.  Pastorius  could  not  re- 
sist the  temptation  to  drop  into  verse  at  every  suitable 
opportunity  and  when  Penn  reached  his  colony  a  second 
time  in  1699  he  was  met  by  a  long  and  most  appreciative 
metrical  welcome. 

But  scarcely  second  to  Penn,  Pastorius  loved  Thomas 
Lloyd.  The  two  scholars  had  common  knowledge,  common 
mystical  ideas,  and  common  interests  in  the  colony.  They 
were  both  strongly  opposed  to  George  Keith  and  worked 
side  by  side  in  many  church  affairs.  In  fact  Pastorius 
tells 

"  We  never  disagreed  nor  were  at  variance 

Because  God's  sacred  Truth    (whereat  we  both  did  aim) 

To  his  endeared  friends  is  every  where  the  same. 

Therefore  'twas  he  that  made  my  passage  short  at  sea, 

'Twas  he  and  William  Penn  that  caused  me  to  stay 

In  this  then  uncouth  land  and  howling  wilderness 

Wherein  I  saw  that  I  but  little  should  possess. 

And  if  I  would  return  to  my  father's  house 

Perhaps  great  riches  and  preferments  might  espouse." 

Whittier  tells  us 

"  With  lettered  Lloyd  on  pleasant  morns  he  strayed 
Where  Sommerhausen  over  vales  of  shade 
Looked  miles  away,  by  every  flower  delayed, 


THOMAS  LLOYD  71 

Or  song  of  bird,  happy  and  free  with  one 
Who  loved  like  him  to  let  his  memory  nm 
Over  old  fields  of  learning  and  to  sun 

Himself  in  Plato's  wise  philosophies 
And  dream  with  Philo  over  mysteries 
Whereof  the  dreamer  never  finds  the  keys." 

Pastorius'  sympathy  with  Lloyd  extended  to  his  daugh- 
ters, whose  acquaintance  he  also  made  on  the  boat,  and 
long  after  when  they  were  wives  and  mothers  he  wrote  them 
a  long  poem,  from  which  the  preceding  extracts  are  taken, 
ending  with  lines: 

"  Thus  I  am  finishing  my  homely  lines  and  crave 
Dear  shipmates,  your  excuse  that  I  so  boldly  have 
With  doggrels  troubled  you.  Farewell,  remembering  me 
Who  am  your  loving  and  ajffectionate  F.  D.  P." 

At  the  risk  of  forgetting  that  this  is  a  biography  of  Lloyd 
rather  than  of  Pastorius  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  rela- 
tion of  the  German  scholar  to  other  Friends,  while  he 
served  as  teacher  in  the  Friends  Public  School. 

On  10  mo.  31st,  1697  Samuel  Carpenter  and  James  Fox 
were  authorized  by  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  Philadelphia 
"  to  treat  with  Daniel  Pastorius  and  Thomas  Makins  "  and 
a  month  later  they  are  authorized  to  engage  them  at  forty 
pounds  each  yearly.  The  school  was  to  open  on  the  first  of 
first  month  (March) ,  1698  "  over  the  meeting  house." 
There  Pastorius  remained  two  years.  Phineas  Pemberton 
was  then  clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  an  important 
patron  of  the  school.  He  writes  Pastorius  shortly  after  the 
school  opened  apologizing  for  the  lateness  of  "  My  little 
girles  "  in  reaching  school  on  account  of  illness  at  home, 
to  which  Pastorius  replies  in  a  courteous  letter.  Phineas' 
son  Israel  did  not  however  fare  so  well.  Two  months  later 
the  boy  makes  this  record: 


72      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

"About  the  10th  day  of  the  4th  month  1698  Francis 
Daniel  Pastorius  a  German  one  of  the  school  masters  at 
Philadelphia,  took  occation  (upon  a  small  difference  that 
did  arise  between  me  and  another  scholar)  to  beate  me  very 
much  with  a  thick  stick  upon  my  head  untill  the  blood  came 
out  and  also  on  my  arms  untill  the  blood  started  through 
the  skin,  and  both  were  so  swelled  that  the  swelling  was  to 
be  seen  so  that  it  caused  my  clothes  to  stand  out  and  the 
fiesh  was  bruised  that  it  turned  black  and  yellow  and  green. 
My  father  coming  to  town  on  the  13th  day  of  the  5th  month 
and  my  sister  acquainting  him  how  I  had  been  used  took  me 
away  from  the  school  .  .  .  and  sent  me  into  the  country 
from  which  I  writ  the  following  epistles." 

One  of  "  the  following  epistles  "  was  written  to  the  other 
master,  Thomas  Makin,  and  was  a  warm  expression  of  lik- 
ing for  him  and  a  different  feeling  for  "  another  "  who  al- 
ways gave  him  "  rough  answers." 

Thomas  Makin  naturally  felt  that  the  withdrawal  would 
affect  the  reputation  of  the  school  and  wrote  the  father 
that  he  would  give  Israel  studies  under  other  masters  ihan 
Pastorius  and  the  appeal  seems  to  have  been  successful. 

The  German  schoolmaster  was  evidently  choleric  and 
thoroughly  believed  in  the  rod.  We  may  if  we  choose 
reconcile  this  with  his  conduct  as  a  magistrate  as  given  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Pilgrim. 

"  Whatever  legal  maze  he  wandered  through. 
He  kept  tUe  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  view, 
And  justice  always  into  mercy  grew. 

No  whipping  post  he  needed,  stocks  nor  jail, 
Nor  ducking  stool;  the  orchard  thief  grew  pale 
At  the  rebuke,  the  vixen  ceased  to  rail." 

But  schoolboys  needed  other  discipline  than  common  cul- 
prits, or  perhaps  Whittier  had  not  read  these  Pemberton 
letters.^ 

^  Now  in  the  Library  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 


THOMAS  LLOYD  73 

The  Yearly  Meeting  directed  that  Pastorius  "  Primmer  " 
should  be  printed  at  the  expense  of  Friends.  Only  one  copy 
of  this  book,  at  Birmingham,  England,  is  known  to  be  in 
existence. 

Thomas  Lloyd's  services  were  demanded  by  the  state 
with  equal  promptitude  after  his  landing.  On  the  25th 
day  of  the  8  mo.  1683  he  was  made  foreman  of  a  Grand 
Jury  in  a  case  of  counterfeit  money.  Two  months  later  he 
was  made  "  Master  of  the  Rolls,"  and  in  the  following 
spring  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council. 

The  legislative  body  was  at  this  time  composed  of  Coun- 
cil and  Assembly.  The  Council  originated  all  laws  which 
to  be  valid  must  be  confirmed  by  the  elective  Assembly.  It 
was  also  the  executive  body  of  the  colony  and  hence  was 
clothed  with  great  powers.  The  right  to  originate  laws  was 
soon  taken  from  it  by  the  growth  of  the  democratic  senti- 
ment in  the  province  and  after  1701  it  was  completely  shorn 
of  legislative  power,  and  became  simply  an  advisory  board, 
appointed  by  the  Governor.  A  seat  in  it  was  however 
always  an  honor,  and  the  list  of  provincial  councillors  con- 
tains the  names  of  nearly  all  the  prominent  men  of  the  col- 
ony. 

After  William  Penn's  return  to  England  in  1684,  Thomas 
Lloyd  was  made  President  of  the  Council,  and  hence  the 
chief  officer  of  the  province  till  1688.  In  February  of  this 
year  Penn  appointed  five  Councilmen  as  his  Deputy: 
Thomas  Lloyd,  Robert  Turner,  Arthur  Cook,  John  Sym- 
cock  and  John  Eckley.  This  arrangement  lasted  till 
December  1688  when  as  Lloyd  had  refused  further  service 
Captain  John  Blackwell,  an  old  Cromwellian  soldier,  not  a 
Friend,  reached  Philadelphia  under  appointment  of  William 
Penn  to  act  as  Deputy-Governor,  and  then  trouble  began. 

Lloyd  had  also  been  made  keeper  of  the  Broad  Seal, 


74      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

without  the  imprint  of  which  no  act  of  the  government 
would  be  valid.  Not  approving  of  certain  commissions  he 
refused  to  affix  it  to  them  and  in  this  position  he  was  sus- 
tained by  a  minority  of  the  Council.  It  is  impossible  not 
to  see  the  sectarian  lines  which  were  gradually  being  drawn, 
the  Friends  of  prominence  generally  siding  with  Lloyd.  The 
minutes  of  the  Council  declared  that  Lloyd's  friends  had 
"  an  inordinate  affection  "  for  him.  When  John  Symcock 
at  the  next  meeting  objected  to  the  adjective  the  Governor 
insisted  that  it  stand  on  the  records.  A  Councillor  lament- 
ing their  inability  to  do  business  declared  that  they  had  two 
Governors,  one  inside  the  Council  and  one  (Thomas  Lloyd) 
outside. 

Lloyd  had  been  returned  as  a  member  from  Bucks 
County,  but  having  committed  certain  stretches  of  author- 
ity of  doubtful  legality,  he  was  charged  by  the  Governor 
with  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  and  his  right  to  a  seat 
refused  pending  the  trial.  Another  elected  member,  Sam- 
uel Richardson,  was  also  refused  for  having  spoken  slight- 
ingly of  the  Governor,  though  he  made  the  vigorous 
remonstrance,  "  I  will  not  withdraw.  I  was  not  brought 
hither  by  thee  and  I  will  not  go  out  by  thy  order.  I  was 
sent  by  the  people  and  thou  hast  no  power  to  put  me  out." 
John  Eckley  was  also  denied  the  right  to  sit  for  reasons 
which  will  appear  later.  Other  of  the  members  objected 
to  these  acts  of  arbitrary  power,  and  the  sessions  of  the 
Council  were  taken  up  by  frequent  disputes  as  to  their  pro- 
priety, and  but  little  real  business  was  transacted. 

The  Welsh  Tract  was  one  of  the  subjects  of  difficulty. 
It  had  been  supposed  to  be  all  in  Philadelphia  County. 
But  in  1688  Caleb  Pusey  and  certain  other  reputable  citi- 
zens of  Chester  County  made  a  request  that  part  of  it  should 
be  transferred  to  that  County  because  their  numbers  were 
small  and  the  charges  of  maintenance  burdensome.     This 


THOMAS  LLOYD  75 

request  was  fortified  by  depositions  that  William  Penn  had 
stated  that  such  a  division  should  be  made,  and  by  some 
maps  which  supported  it.  Lloyd,  though  denied  member- 
ship in  the  Council,  was  allowed  to  appear  on  behalf  of 
his  countrymen,  but  all  he  could  do  was  to  ask  for  more 
time  to  carry  the  matter  to  England  that  the  justice  of  the 
measure  might  be  more  fully  considered.  Blackwell  had 
with  him  the  majoritj'^  of  the  Council  and  the  minority  were 
willing  to  concede  the  reasonableness  in  a  general  way  of 
the  proposition.  The  act  was  passed  and  Merion  was 
placed  on  one  side  of  the  line  and  Haverford  and  Radnor 
on  the  other,  and  so  they  have  remained  to  this  day. 

The  Welsh  felt  deeply  aggrieved.  Their  Barony,  al- 
ready shorn  of  certain  powers  which  they  expected  to  retain, 
was  now  divided  between  two  counties.  At  first  they  re- 
fused to  abide  by  the  decision  and  the  men  from  Haverford 
and  Radnor  joined  with  the  Merion  voters  in  sending  John 
Eckley  to  the  Council,  but  as  already  stated  he  was  refused 
admission. 

The  future  history  of  the  Welsh  Tract  is  interesting.  One 
can  not  but  sympathize  with  the  gradual  fading  away  of 
the  hopes  for  an  old  Wales  in  the  new  country. 

They  had  not  taken  up  their  whole  tract,  and  in  1690 
men  of,  other  nationalities  came  in  with  claims.  The 
settlers  made  an  eloquent  appeal:  "We,  the  Inhabitants  of 
the  Welsh  Tract  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  in  Amer- 
ica, being  descended  of  the  ancient  Britons,  who  always  in 
the  Land  of  our  Nativity,  under  the  Crown  of  England, 
have  enjoyed  that  Liberty  and  privilege  as  to  have  our 
bounds  and  limits  by  ourselves  within  which  all  causes, 
quarrels,  crimes,  and  titles  were  tryed,  and  wholly  deter- 
mined by  officers,  magistrates,  and  jurors  of  our  own 
language,  which  were  our  equals;  having  our  faces  towards 
these  counties,  made  motion  to  our  Governor,  that  we  might 


76      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

enjoy  the  same  here,  —  to  the  Intent  we  might  live  together 
here,  and  enjoy  our  liberty  and  Devotion;  which  thing  was 
soon  granted  us  before  we  came  into  these  parts." 

It  was  decided  that  if  the  Welshmen  would  pay  all  quit- 
rents  since  1684  they  might  preserve  their  tract  intact. 
They  refused  the  proposition,  but  expressed  a  willingness 
to  be  responsible  for  the  whole  40,000  acres  in  future.  This 
was  declined.  When  it  was  too  late  they  reconsidered  the 
matter  and  agreed  to  accept  the  conditions.  But  the  com- 
missions to  others  had  already  been  executed.  Their  polit- 
ical integrity  had  been  broken,  and  now  their  social  com- 
radeship was  threatened.  The  Barony  was  about  to  pass 
away,  but  the  "  Great  Welsh  Tract  "  became  a  well  marked 
section  of  the  province,  leading  in  enterprise  and  prosperity, 
up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Friends'  meetings  were  more  considerate  of  Welsh 
sentiment  than  the  state  authorities.  The  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing of  Chester,  in  1700,  sent  word  to  the  Haverford  Friends 
that  as  they  were  in  their  county  they  should  be  joined  to 
their  meeting.  But  Haverford  protested,  and  the  Phila- 
delphia Meeting  strongly  supported  them:  "Whereas  Hav- 
erford Meeting  hath  belonged  to  this  Quarterly  Meeting 
from  the  first  settlement  and  for  several  other  reasons  this 
meeting  unanimously  desire  that  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
Haverford  may  not  be  separated  from  this  our  Quarterly 
Meeting  ";  and  so  it  has  remained  to  this  day. 

The  separateness  of  the  Welsh  settlers  now  rapidly  de- 
parted. Business,  marriages,  politics  drew  them  into  close 
association  with  the  English,  and  while  their  brethren  in 
the  old  country  retained  their  language,  the  new  country 
Welshmen,  who  had  so  pathetically  appealed  for  national 
peculiarity,  had  before  the  Revolution  lost  it  all. 

Wliile  Lloyd  had  failed  in  the  matter  of  the  Welsh  set- 
tlement he  had  proved  a  strong  political  antagonist.   After 


THOMAS  LLOYD  77 

his  death  Haverford  Monthly  Meeting  spoke  of  "  his  meek 
and  lamb-like  spirit,  great  patience,  temperance  and  humil- 
ity and  slowness  to  wrath."  William  Markham  however, 
who  took  sides  with  Blackwell  and  kept  the  minutes  of  the 
Council,  gives  a  little  insight  into  the  turbulent  politics  of 
the  time. 

"  The  Govr  declared  ye  Council  to  be  adjourned  till  ye 
next  council  day,  viz:  to  ye  fifth  day  of  ye  same  week,  at 
nine  of  ye  Clock,  at  ye  same  place;  and  Rose  up  out  of  his 
place  to  depart  accordingly ;  upon  wch  severall  of  ye  mem- 
bers of  ye  Councill  departed.  But  divers  remayned  and  a 
great  deale  of  confused  noise  and  clamor  was  Expressed  at 
and  without  the  doore  of  ye  Govrs  roome,  where  ye  Councill 
had  sate,  wch  occasioned  persons  (passing  by  in  the  streets) 
to  stand  still  to  heare,  which  ye  Govr  observing,  desired  ye 
sayd  The  Lloyd  would  forbeare  such  lowd  talking,  telling 
him  he  must  not  suffer  such  doings,  but  would  take  a  Course 
to  Suppress  it,  and  shutt  ye  Doore.  So  he  went  away, 
attended  with  severall  of  ye  members  of  ye  Councill,  others 
staying  behind  with  ye  Governor." 

Other  scenes  were  equally  boisterous.  One  can  not  but 
feel  as  he  reads  the  personnel  of  those  who  voted  against 
Lloyd  in  the  Council  that  the  political  differences  of  the 
Blackwell  era  had  something  to  do  with  the  Keith  con- 
troversy which  followed. 

Penn  tried  to  make  peace.  On  7  mo.  25th  1689  he  wrote 
to  Blackwell,  "  I  would  be  as  little  vigorous  as  possible,  and 
do  desire  thee  by  all  the  obligations  I  and  my  present  cir- 
cimistances  can  have  upon  thee  to  desist  the  prosecution  of 
T.  L.  I  entirely  know  the  person  both  in  his  weakness 
and  accomplishment  &  would  ye  end  the  dispute  between 
you  two  upon  my  single  request  and  command  and  that 
former  inconveniences  be  rather  mended  than  punished. 
Salute  me  to  the  people  in  general  &  pray  send  for  J. 
Simcock,  A.  Cook,  John  Eckley  and  Samuel  Carpenter  & 


78      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

let  them  dispose  T.  L.  and  Sa  Richardson  to  that  comply- 
ing temper  that  may  tend  to  that  loving  and  serious  accord 
yt  becomes  such  a  government." 

But  Penn  from  England  finally  recalled  Blackwell.  In 
his  farewell  address  the  Deputy  used  words  the  sincerity  of 
which  we  can  hardly  doubt.  "  'Tis  a  good  day.  I  have  given 
and  I  do  unfeignedly  give  God  thanks  for  it,  for  to  say  no 
worse  I  was  very  unequally  yoked."  He  was  probably  an 
honest  but  tactless  man  who  did  not  understand  the  Quaker 
character,  and  pugnaciously  attempted  to  override  it. 
Thomas  Lloyd  had  undoubtedly  proven  an  "  unequal  "  yoke 
fellow. 

Penn  now  made  two  propositions:  One  was  to  have  three 
names  sent  to  him  by  vote  of  the  Council,  one  of  whom  he 
would  appoint  as  Deputy-Governor.  The  other  was  to  al- 
low the  Council  itself  to  be  Deputy-Governor  and  elect  its 
own  President.  The  Council  unanimously  chose  the  latter 
and  elected  Thomas  Lloyd  President.  In  this  form  the 
arrangement  continued  till  1693,  when  Penn  was  deprived 
of  his  government  by  the  King,  and  the  province  placed  in 
the  hands  of  Benjamin  Fletcher,  Governor  of  New  York. 
This  period  of  about  four  years  from  1689  to  1693  was  quiet 
and  uneventful,  as  shown  in  the  Colonial  Records  though 
there  is  a  gap  of  over  two  years  in  the  minutes.  The  politi- 
cal peace  speaks  for  the  wisdom  of  Lloyd's  administration 
and  its  general  acceptance  by  the  province. 

When  Fletcher  came  on  April  26,  1693  his  first  act  was 
the  following:  "  His  excellency  having  sent  for  Thomas 
Lloyd,  the  late  Deputy-Governor  did  offer  unto  him  the 
first  place  in  the  Council  which  he  did  refuse."  This  ex- 
ample was  followed  by  other  Friends. 

When  early  in  1695  the  province  was  restored  to  William 
Penn  as  Proprietor  and  Governor,  Thomas  Lloyd  was  no 
more.    He  died  at  the  age  of  54. 


THOMAS  LLOYD  79 

For  a  man  of  quiet  instincts  his  life  had  been  a  troubled 
one.  Persecuted  in  Wales,  he  sought  the  peace  of  a  Quaker 
province.  Immediately  he  was  thrown  into  the  distractions 
of  a  government  of  non-experts,  jealous  of  their  liberties, 
suspicious  of  every  move  that  threatened  to  curtail  them, 
uncertain  of  their  powers  and  crude  in  their  methods.  He 
could  suffer  passively  in  Wales  under  unjust  laws  and  their 
unkindly  enforcement.  But  he  could  not  see  lost  the  lib- 
erties which  William  Penn  and  his  friends  had  purchased 
in  Pennsylvania,  when  the  responsibility  for  their  defense 
rested  partly  upon  him.  By  common  consent  the  strongest 
man  in  the  province,  positions  of  influence  were  almost 
forced  upon  him.  He  resisted  when  he  could.  William 
Penn  writes  in  1687,  "  I  am  sorry  that  Thomas  Lloyd,  my 
esteemed  friend,  covets  a  quietus,  that  is  young  and  active 
and  ingenious,  for  from  such  it  is  that  I  expect  help,  and  such 
will  not  sow,  I  hope,  in  vain."  And  the  next  year  he  urges 
him  "  By  all  that  is  reverent,  tender  and  friendly  I  beseech 
thy  care,  condescension  and  help  for  that  poor  province." 
Lloyd  lived  in  the  province  about  eleven  years  during  seven 
of  which  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  government. 

Such  appeals  could  not  be  denied,  and  so  he  fought 
through  the  Blackwell  regime  and  the  Keith  controversy  as 
best  he  could,  keeping  the  esteem  of  the  best  men  of  the 
province,  but  suffering,  no  one  knows  how  much,  from  the 
bitter  attacks  upon  him.  Lover  of  peace  as  he  was  there 
is  no  evidence  that  he  allowed  these  attacks  to  divert  him 
from  his  path  of  duty.  Scholar  and  mystic  by  temperament 
and  training,  he  became  a  politician  by  force  of  circum- 
stances. In  happier  times  his  religion  and  his  learning 
would  have  been  his  cherished  objects,  but  his  province  and 
his  sect  owe  to  him  a  debt  in  that  he  sacrificed  fortune  and 
the  life  of  lettered  ease  and  spiritual  quiet  to  the  stern  de- 
mands of  political  and  ecclesiastical  battle. 


8o      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

His  loving  Welsh  friends  of  Haverford  Monthly  Meeting 
leave  this  memorial  of  him. 

"  The  love  of  God,  and  the  regard  we  have  to  the  blessed 
truth,  constrains  us  to  give  forth  this  testimony  concerning 
our  dear  friend  Thomas  Lloyd,  many  of  us  having  had  long 
acquaintance  with  him  both  in  Wales,  where  he  formerly 
lived,  and  also  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  finished  his 
course,  and  laid  down  his  head  in  peace  with  the  Lord,  and 
is  at  rest  and  joy  with  Him  for  evermore.  He  was  by  birth 
of  them  who  are  called  the  gentry,  his  father  being  a  man  of 
a  considerable  estate,  and  of  great  esteem  in  his  time,  of  an 
antient  house  and  estate  called  Dolobran,  in  Montgomery- 
shire in  Wales.  He  was  brought  up  at  the  most  noted 
schools,  and  from  thence  went  to  one  of  the  Universities, 
and  because  of  his  superior  natural  and  acquired  parts, 
many  of  account  in  the  world  had  an  eye  of  regard  towards 
him.  Being  offered  degrees  and  places  of  preferments,  he 
refused  them  all;  the  Lord  beginning  his  work  in  him,  and 
causing  a  measure  of  his  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness  in 
his  heart,  which  gave  him  a  sight  of  the  vain  forms,  customs, 
and  traditions  of  the  schools  and  colleges.  And  hearing  of 
a  poor  despised  people  called  Quakers,  he  went  to  hear 
them,  and  the  Lord's  power  reached  unto  him,  and  came 
over  him  to  the  humbling  and  bowing  his  heart  and  spirit; 
so  that  he  was  convinced  of  God's  everlasting  truth,  and  re- 
ceived it  in  the  love  of  it,  and  was  made  willing,  like  meek 
Moses,  to  choose  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people 
of  the  Lord,  than  the  honours,  preferments,  and  riches  of 
this  world.  The  earthly  wisdom  came  to  be  of  no  reputa- 
tion with  him,  but  he  became  a  fool,  both  to  it  and  his  for- 
mer associates;  and  through  self-denial  and  taking  up  the 
daily  cross  of  Christ  Jesus,  which  crucified  his  natural  will, 
affections,  pleasures,  he  came  to  be  a  scholar  in  Christ's 
school,  and  to  learn  the  true  wisdom  which  is  from  above. 

"Thus,  he  departing  from  the  vanities  and  iniquities  of 
the  world,  and  following  the  leadings,  guidance,  and  in- 
structions of  the  divine  light,  grace,  and  spirit  of  Christ, 
came  more  and  more  to  have  an  understanding  in  the  mys- 
teries of  God's  kingdom,  and  was  made  an  able  minister  of 
the  everlasting  gospel  of  peace  and  salvation,  his  acquired 
parts  being  sanctified  to  the  service  of  truth. 


THOMAS  LLOYD  8i 

"  His  sound  and  effectual  ministry,  his  godly  conversa- 
tion, meek  and  lamb-like  spirit,  great  patience,  temperance, 
and  humility,  and  slowness  to  wrath;  his  love  to  the 
brethren,  his  godly  care  in  the  Church  of  Christ  that  all 
things  might  be  kept  sweet,  savoury,  and  in  good  order;  his 
helping  hand  to  the  weak,  and  gentle  admonitions,  we  are 
fully  satisfied  have  a  seal  and  witness  in  the  hearts  of  all 
faithful  Friends  who  knew  him,  both  in  the  land  of  his 
nativity  and  in  these  American  parts.  We  may,  in  truth, 
say  he  sought  not  himself,  nor  the  riches  of  this  world,  but 
his  eye  was  to  that  which  is  everlasting,  being  given  up  to 
spend  and  be  spent  for  the  truth  and  the  sake  of  Friends. 
.  .  .  He  was  taken  with  a  malignant  fever  the  5th  of  the 
7th  month,  1694,  and  though  his  bodily  pain  was  great  he 
bore  it  with  much  patience.  Not  long  before  his  departure 
some  friends  being  with  him  he  said,  '  Friends,  I  love  you 
all,  I  am  going  from  you,  and  I  die  in  unity  and  love  with 
all  faithful  Friends.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight  and  kept 
the  faith,  which  stands  not  in  the  wisdom  of  words  but  in 
the  power  of  God:  I  have  sought  not  for  strife  and  conten- 
tion, but  for  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel.  I  lay  down  my  head  in  peace, 
and  desire  you  all  may  do  so.     Friends,  farewell.' 

"  On  the  19th  day  of  the  7th  month  aforesaid,  being  the 
6th  day  of  the  sickness,  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  remove  him 
from  the  many  trials,  temptations,  sorrows,  and  troubles  of 
this  world,  to  the  kingdom  of  everlasting  joy  and  peace; 
but  the  remembrance  of  his  innocent  life  and  meek  spirit 
lives  with  us,  and  his  memorial  is,  and  will  remain  to  be, 
sweet  and  comfortable  to  the  faithful.  He  was  buried  in 
the  Friends'  burying-ground  in  Philadelphia,  aged  about 
fifty-four  years,  having  been  several  years  President  and 
Deputy-Governor  of  Pennsylvania." 

The  following  letter  gives  some  insight  into  the  conditions 
in  the  colony  and  the  character  of  Thomas  Lloyd. 

"  From  Thomas  Lloyd  to  his  Friends,  belonging  to  Dol- 
obran  Quarterly-Meeting,  Wales."  ^ 

1  The  original  of  this  letter  is  in  the  Roberts  Collection  of  Haver- 
ford  College. 


82      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


"  Philada.  2d  of  ye  9thmo  1684. 

"  My  Dear  and  Well  beloved  Friends, 
of,  and  belonging  to  Dolobran  Q.  Meeting, 

"  The  warm  and  tender  salutation  of  My  love  is  un- 
feignedly  to  you,  with  whom  I  have  convers'd  and  walked 
some  years,  in  unity.  Zeal,  Concord  and  Endeavor'd  Serv- 
ice ;  you  are,  because  of  our  nearness,  familiar,  yet  Honour- 
able, in  my  Thoughts  and  Esteem;  The  Truth,  '  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,'  Prosper  and  encrease  Dayly  in  your  minds;  and  rest 
Bountifully  upon  your  Habitations; 


"  It  is  no  New  Thing  for  you  to  Suffer  Joyfully  in  your 
Persons  and  Goods;  —  The  Lord  gave  us  strength.  Cour- 
age, Satisfaction  and  Honour  Thereby;  —  Whil'st  He  is 
before  our  eyes,  &  his  Holy  fear  in  our  hearts.  Whether 
in  Bonds  or  free,  —  in  that  or  this  Part  of  the  world ;  —  our 
Preservation  we  shall  witness; 

"  Our  Meetings  are  very  full ;  I  guess  we  had  no  less 
Numbers,  last  first-Day,  than  Eight  Hundred,  we  are  glad 
to  see  the  faces  of  servicable  Friends  here,  who  Come  in 
God's  freedom;  who  are  Persons  of  a  Good  Understanding 
&  Conversation;  &  will  Discharge  their  Stations  Reli- 
giously; Such,  Will  be  a  Blessing  to  the  Province;  — 

"  The  favourable  Revolution  of  Providence  hath  founded 
the  Government  so  here,  That  a  man  is  at  Liberty  to  Serve 
his  Maker  without  Contempt,  Discouragement,  or  restraint; 
Truth  indeed  Makes  Men  Honourable,  not  only  here,  but 
in  most  Places  at  least;  But  here  Truth  Receives  Good 
Entertainment  at  first; 

"  Our  Governor  is  just  Embarking  for  England,  our  best 
wishes  go  with  and  attend  him;  He  hopes  to  have  an  opor- 
tunity,  by  Testimony  or  Writing,  to  Express  his  Love  and 
Remembrance  to  ye  Several  Churches  of  Brittain;  —  Our 
friends  from  the  neighborhood  are  generally  well,  and  Tol- 
erably settled;  Tho.  Ellis,  I.  Humphrey,  H.  Roberts,  J. 
Eckley,  D.  Davis  and  Many  more  are  useful!  and  accepted 
among'st  us;  — 


THOMAS  LLOYD  83 

"  In  Love  I  lived  with  you;  In  Love  I  took  my  leave  of 
you;  —  and  in  Love,  I  now  bid  you,  a  Christian  &  Brotherly 
Farewell;  from  your  friend  and  Brother, 

Thomas  Lloyd;" 


DAVID  LLOYD 

David  Lloyd  was  born  in  Montgomeryshire,  Wales,  in 
1656.  Thomas  Lloyd  speaks  of  him  in  a  letter  as  "  my 
kinsman,"  though  the  relationship  was  probably  not  near. 

Comparatively  little  is  known  of  his  early  history.  In 
some  way  he  secured  an  accurate  and  available  knowledge 
of  law.  His  first  wife  was  from  Gloucestershire,  and  it  is 
not  improbable  that  he  was  educated  in  England. 

In  the  seething  political  and  religious  times  of  the  Com- 
monwealth and  later  he  imbibed  the  strong  republicanism 
with  which  his  name  and  talents  were  afterwards  so  con- 
spicuously associated.  Then  he  joined  the  Society  of 
Friends,  as  many  of  the  Commonwealth  sympathizers  did, 
and  abjured  fighting  with  material  weapons  forever.  His 
pugnacity  was,  however,  transferred  to  another  field,  and 
when  in  1686  Penn  commissioned  him  as  Attorney- General 
of  his  new  province  he  little  knew  what  a  determined  op- 
ponent he  was  sending  over  the  seas.  On  "  the  5th  of  ye 
6th  Mo.  1686  "  he  presented  his  commission  to  the  Council, 
subscribed  to  the  necessary  declarations  of  fidelity  to  the 
King  and  Governor  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
ofiice.  From  this  time  until  his  death,  in  1731,  he  was  a 
potent  factor,  possibly  as  potent  as  any,  considering  perma- 
nent results,  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  province.^ 

1  Macaulay  in  his  History  makes  one  David  Lloyd  an  emissary 
in  attempting  the  restoration  of  James  II  in  1690-91.  The  name 
was  included  with  that  of  William  Penn  and  a  number  of  noblemen 
and  gentlemen  in  a  list  of  supposed  conspirators  against  William 
and  Mary.  It  is  possible  that  our  David  Lloyd  went  over  from 
Pennsylvania  for  this  purpose,  though  it  seems  improbable.  Deb- 
orah Logan,  however,  speaks  of  him  as  the  same  person.  She  also 
says  that  he  was  Captam  in  the  "Republican  Army,"  presumably 

84 


DAVID  LLOYD  85 

Two  months  later  Patrick  Robinson,  who  appears  to  have 
been  a  testy  and  obstinate  ofl&cial,  was  discharged  from  his 
position  as  Clerk  of  the  Provincial  Court,  and  David  Lloyd 
was  appointed  to  the  place.  He  was  also  made  clerk  or 
deputy  to  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  Thomas  Lloyd. 

As  Attorney-General  there  is  only  one  important  case 
with  which  David  Lloyd  was  associated  that  has  come  down 
to  us  —  the  case  in  which  William  Bradford,  the  only 
printer  of  Philadelphia,  was  charged  with  issuing  a  seditious 
libel  in  connection  with  the  George  Keith  controversy. 
Lloyd  represented  the  prosecution,  and  won.  Bradford  was 
fined,  but  in  the  easy-going  times  the  fine  was  never  col- 
lected. It  is  important  as  being  the  first  case  where  the 
seditious  character  of  the  publication,  as  well  as  the  fact  of 
printing,  was  submitted  to  the  jury,  and  was  thus  important 
in  establishing  the  freedom  of  the  press. ^ 

In  the  snarl  that  followed  the  appointment  of  Blackwell 
as  Deputy-Governor,  he  showed  the  militant  disposition 
which  made  his  life  a  continual  turmoil. 

There  came  up  in  a  meeting  of  the  Council  the  question  of 
a  criminal  whose  case  had  been  adjudged  by  the  court  of  the 
county  of  Sussex,  and  the  judgment  reversed  by  the  Provin- 
cial Court.  The  copies  of  the  records  of  the  higher  court 
being  conflicting,  David  Lloyd  was  asked  to  produce  the 
original.  He  refused,  saying  that  the  Council  had  no  au- 
thority to  give  such  an  order.  Then,  the  minutes  state, 
"  he  was  thereupon  ordered  to  withdraw.  This  was  judged 
a  high  contempt  in  the  said  David  Lloyd,  and  for  that  and 
other  unseemingly  and  slighting  expressions  of  his  to  the 
Governor  and  Council,"  he  was  discharged  from  his  various 
positions.     Thomas  Lloyd  then  came  to  his  rescue  by  issu- 

that  of  Cromwell.     As  he  was  only  two  years  old  when  Cromwell 
died,  she  was  undoubtedly  mistaken. 
1  See  Pennypacker's  Colonial  Cases. 


86      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ing  a  commission  to  him  re-appointing  him.  This  Black- 
well  conceded  he  had  a  right  to  do  as  his  deputy,  but  not  as 
clerk  of  the  court.  Blackwell  was  probably  right,  and  the 
Lloyds  had  to  recede  from  their  position.  David  Lloyd 
jSnally  gave  up  the  papers  in  question,  and  ultimately  re- 
covered his  standing. 

In  1693  he  was  again  brought  unfavorably  before  the 
Council.  One  Charles  Butler  was  charged  with  passing 
counterfeit  coin.  The  jury  found  him  guilty,  and  he 
claimed  that  David  Lloyd  added  to  their  verdict  that  it  was 
misprision  of  treason,  which  would  cause  a  forfeiture  of  all 
the  prisoner's  property.  In  reply  Lloyd  claimed  that  his 
act  was  only  a  legal  form.  The  Council  concluded  that  it 
was  not  a  proper  case  for  it  to  decide,  but  gave  an  opinion 
that  it  did  not  look  right  to  them  to  give  so  severe  a  pen- 
alty for  so  slight  an  offense  and  that  there  was  "  a  matter 
of  law  in  it  against  David  Lloyd." 

Another  instance  of  a  legal  character  may  be  cited  to 
illustrate  his  facility  in  making  enemies  by  the  method  of 
his  proceedings.  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius  was  the  agent 
of  the  Frankford  Company  which  owned  a  large  amount  of 
land  in  and  around  Germantown.  He  was  dismissed  from 
his  position  without  proper  compensation  for  past  services. 
An  adventurer  now  appeared,  one  Henry  Sprogel,  whom 
Pastorius  calls  "  a  cunning  and  fraudulent  fellow,"  who  had 
come  over  with  the  claim  that  he  had  bought  in  Germany 
the  rights  of  several  of  the  owners,  and  was  proceeding  to 
eject  the  innocent  settlers  by  court  decree.  In  company 
with  a  colleague,  he  retained  David  Lloyd,  and  gave  to  him 
as  a  fee  1,000  acres  of  land  to  which  the  title  was  doubtful. 
Acting  on  Lloyd's  advice,  he  also  bought  up  the  whole  bar 
of  the  province,  consisting  of  three  other  lawyers,  and 
sprung  the  case  upon  the  court,  which  decided  in  his  favor 
without  a  full  hearing  of  the  other  side. 


DAVID  LLOYD  87 

The  above  is  Pastorius's  account,  and  in  concluding  it  he 
gives  this  verdict:  — 

"  If  David  Lloyd  does  justify  this  barbarous  manner  of 
proceeding  and  spoiling  of  widows  and  orphans,  it's  more 
than  any  can  do  that  professes  truth,  and  unless  he  really 
repent  and  endeavors  to  have  restitution  made  to  those  who 
so  deeply  suffer,  he  certainly  will  be  accountable  for  it  at 
the  great  day  of  judgment."  ^ 

In  other  letters  Pastorius  is  even  more  severe,  referring 
to  him  as  d-11.  Finally  he  made  his  complaint  to  Philadel- 
phia Monthly  Meeting,  where  David  Lloyd  was  a  member. 
At  the  same  time  a  request  came  from  Lloyd  to  transfer 
his  certificate  to  Chester  Monthly  Meeting.  The  double 
question  was  considered  from  month  to  month  for  six 
months  with  additions  to  the  membership  of  the  committee. 
Finally,  on  9  month  27th  1713  the  meeting  minuted  "  How- 
ever, it  seems  to  the  meeting  to  be  that  which  is  not  of  good 
report  and  therefore  desires  David  Lloyd  that  he  may  for- 
bear to  have  anything  further  to  do  towards  strengthening 
the  parties  concerned  therein."  With  this  Scotch  verdict 
the  matter  was  left. 

In  forming  a  judgment  of  David  Lloyd  from  these  ques- 
tions of  legal  ethics  it  is  fair  to  bear  in  mind  that  he  has 
placed  on  record  no  defenses  of  his  action.  He  used  the 
means  which  as  a  lawyer  were  at  his  command,  and  which 
many  good  lawyers  at  the  present  day  sanction  and  adopt. 
The  accounts  of  the  transactions  all  come  from  his  political 
and  factional  opponents.  His  skill  and  ability  are  abun- 
dantly manifest  by  the  results,  while  his  methods  would 
doubtless  be  differently  judged  were  we  to  hear  his  own 
statements.  He,  apparently,  both  in  meeting  his  legal  and 
political  enemies,  had  no  thought  of  protecting  himself  in 
history.     The  voluminous  writings  of  Logan  and  Pastorius 

1  See  M.  D.  Learned's  Pastorius,  p.  154. 


88      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

bear  evidence  of  the  opinion  held  of  him  by  those  whose 
plans  he  had  opposed.  That  during  all  his  life  time  he  had 
an  ardent  political  following,  containing  many  good  men, 
and  more  often  than  not  defeated  the  opposition,  are  facts 
we  know  from  the  public  records,  but  not  from  his  pen. 

To  the  political  side  of  his  life  we  now  turn. 

It  was  as  a  politician  rather  than  as  a  lawyer  that  he  will 
ultimately  be  judged,  and  here  we  find  most  opposite  views 
of  his  character  and  influence.  With  some  he  is  the  great 
champion  of  democracy  and  popular  rights  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  Proprietary  and  his  friends;  with 
others  he  is  simply  an  artful  demagogue,  using  his  great 
legal  training  and  undoubted  abilities  to  carry  out  his  plans, 
ofttimes  by  unscrupulous  means,  in  the  midst  of  a  simple 
and  trustful  community  of  country  Friends,  of  whose  prin- 
ciples he  was,  or  seemed  to  be,  an  ardent  exponent.  We 
will  try  to  state  the  facts  fairly  before  forming  a  judgment. 

After  holding  various  minor  offices  as  clerk  of  the  courts 
and  of  the  Assembly,  and  deputy  to  certain  officials,  he  was 
in  1693,  at  the  time  of  the  Fletcher  regime,  when  William 
Penn  was  deprived  of  his  government,  elected  to  the 
Assembly.  A  year  later  he  was  made  Speaker.  Fletcher 
was  opposed  by  the  whole  Quaker  body  in  public  life  and 
Lloyd  had  a  united  party  with  him.  The  Governor  was 
attempting  to  break  down  the  Penn  authority  and  consti- 
tution, and  as  Friends  had  refused  to  sit  in  his  Council,  and 
as  this  body  had  the  sole  power  of  originating  laws,  he  had 
at  the  start  things  pretty  much  his  own  way.  But  when 
these  laws  were  presented  to  the  Assembly,  without  whose 
sanction  they  could  not  be  enacted,  came  Lloyd's  chance. 
Every  piece  of  legislation  in  conflict  with  popular  rights  was 
held  up,  and,  after  the  fashion  of  the  English  Commons, 
supplies  were  denied  pending  the  Governor's  surrender. 
Lloyd  was  then  as  always  very  direct  and  open  in  his 


DAVID  LLOYD  89 

statements.  On  one  of  the  occasions  when  a  committee 
of  the  Assembly  waited  on  the  Governor  to  explain  their 
non-passage  of  the  supply  bill,  and  various  circumlocutory 
statements  were  made,  David  Lloyd  brought  the  matter  to 
a  head  by  the  unmistakable  announcement,  "  To  be  plain 
with  the  Governor  here  is  the  Monie  Bill,  and  the  House 
will  not  pass  it  until  they  know  what  is  become  of  the  other 
bills  sent  up." 

The  first  contest  was  over  the  validity  of  the  charter  and 
laws  granted  by  Penn.  Fletcher  claimed  that  they  were 
superseded  by  his  royal  commission.  After  some  sparring, 
the  Assembly  had  to  yield.  Then  an  appropriation  was 
asked  to  defend  the  frontier  of  New  York  against  the 
French,  with  whom  England  was  at  war.  This  demand 
struck  at  the  anti-martial  principles  of  Friends,  and  was 
successfully  resisted,  or  rather  postponed  by  the  Assembly. 
The  plan  of  delaying  supplies  till  certain  laws  were  granted 
was  now  tried  in  Pennsylvania,  and,  as  in  other  colonies  and 
in  England,  was  successful  in  extorting  one  popular  liberty 
after  another. 

Fletcher's  rule  only  lasted  about  two  years,  when  the 
government  was  restored  to  Penn,  who  made  his  cousin 
Markham  his  Deputy.  Markham  tried  to  live  up  to  the 
arbitrary  standard  of  Fletcher,  but  now  both  Council  and 
Assembly  opposed  him.  Lloyd  was  now  in  the  former  body, 
but  remained  the  champion  of  democracy.  One  privilege 
after  another  was  gained,  giving  the  Assembly  as  well  as 
the  Council  the  right  to  originate  laws,  and  allowing  it  to  sit 
on  its  own  adjournments.  All  and  more  than  Penn  had 
granted  was  secured.  This  condition  lasted  till  1699,  when 
Penn,  with  his  secretary,  James  Logan,  came  into  the 
country,  and  David  Lloyd's  easy  supremacy  was  over. 

For  he  and  Logan  became  bitter  enemies.  During  Penn's 
stay  of  two  years  this  did  not  much  show  itself,  but  he  and 


90      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

his  friends  had  so  indoctrinated  the  colony  with  ideas  of 
freedom  that  Penn,  half  reluctantly,  was  forced  to  give  a 
new  charter,  that  of  1701,  which  lasted  just  seventy-five 
years,  till  abrogated  in  the  opening  days  of  the  Revolution- 
ary War.  This  abolished  the  Council  as  a  part  of  the  law- 
making power,  making  it  only  an  advisory  body  to  the  Dep- 
uty-Governor, and  granted  full  powers  to  the  Assembly, 
with  the  Governor's  assent,  to  pass  all  laws. 

Hitherto  Lloyd  had  seemed  to  be  on  good  terms  with 
Penn,  whose  commission  he  had  held.  But  when  the  Pro- 
prietary sailed  for  England,  leaving  Logan  his  secretary 
and  agent,  a  controversy,  both  personal  and  political,  which 
in  time  became  very  bitter,  arose  between  the  Welshman  and 
the  Irishman.  Both  had  a  sort  of  fearless  pugnacity  which 
induced  plain  speaking  without  any  avoidance  of  direct 
issues.  Though  their  state  papers  are  couched  in  terms  of 
studied  courtesy,  there  was  no  pains  to  conceal  the  differ- 
ences involved  betw^een  them. 

Each  had  his  party  behind  him.  The  most  of  the  best 
educated  city  Friends,  who  were  also  friends  of  the  Pro- 
prietary, were  gathered  in  the  ranks  with  the  secretary. 
The  country  Friends,  the  great  bulk  of  the  population,  con- 
cerned for  their  property  and  personal  rights,  followed  loy- 
ally the  skilful  and  forceful  leadership  of  David  Lloyd. 

A  small  third  party  must  not  be  neglected,  the  Church- 
men, whose  leader  was  Robert  Quarry,  Judge  of  the  Admi- 
ralty, appointed  by  the  Crown  and  independent  of  the  Penn 
government.  This  party  was  troublesome  more  because  it 
spread  in  England  reports  of  inefficiency  in  the  province, 
due,  as  it  claimed,  to  Quaker  scruples  as  to  war  and  oaths, 
than  as  the  result  of  its  direct  influence  upon  popular  opin- 
ion. 

David  Lloyd  was  a  strong  uncompromising  champion  of 
Friends'  views  on  these  subjects  and  one  of  his  favorite 


DAVID  LLOYD  91 

charges  against  the  Penn  and  Logan  party  was  that  relief 
in  these  matters  was  not  granted,  so  that  Friends  could  have 
their  full  share  in  government  without  any  sacrifice  of  prin- 
ciple. 

That  Logan  did  not  hold  the  Friendly  attitude  as  to  wars 
and  self-defense  is  unquestionably  true,  and  became  more 
manifest  as  he  grew  older.  The  Friends  that  surrounded 
him,  however,  did,  —  some  of  them  quite  as  strenuously 
as  did  the  countrymen,  and  perhaps  with  a  better  apprecia- 
tion of  all  the  factors  entering  into  the  matter.  Hence  on 
occasions  they  would  vote  money  "  for  the  Queen's  use  "  on 
the  general  plea  that  the  use  the  Queen  made  of  it  was,  as 
Isaac  Norris  expressed  it,  "  Not  our  part,  but  hers." 

Lloyd  never  compromised.  When  the  Assemblies  of 
which  he  was  the  Speaker  voted  monej' ,  they  made  it  a  con- 
dition that  "  it  should  not  be  dipt  in  blood,"  and  appointed 
trustees  to  hold  it  till  they  found  how  it  was  to  be  applied. 
He  was  willing  to  carry  non-resistance  to  its  fullest  con- 
clusion, and  abruptly  closed  the  question  and  adjourned  the 
Assembly  when  it  was  found  that  the  Deputy  was  not 
inclined  to  accept  the  grant  on  such  dubious  terms.  In 
this  particular  he  was  undoubtedly^  supported  by  the  great 
body  of  Friends  in  the  province. 

The  close  identity  of  Friends  with  the  government  is 
shown  by  two  addresses  passed  by  the  House  on  the  same 
day  (May  25th,  1704)  and  both  signed  by  David  Lloyd, 
Speaker.  One  of  these  was  "  The  Humble  Address  of  the 
Freemen  of  Pennsylvania,"  congratulating  "  Our  Gracious 
Queen  Anne "  on  her  accession.  The  other  was  "  The 
Humble  Address  of  the  People  called  Quakers  convened  in 
Assembly,"  also  addressed  to  "  Our  Gracious  Queen  Anne," 
asking  relief  in  the  matter  of  oaths,  which  was  approved 
by  the  Assembly,  N.  C.  D.  The  Assembly,  probably  all 
Friends,  adopted  by  the  same  vote  and  placed  on  its  min- 


92      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

utes  the  two  addresses,  in  one  case  as  the  Freemen  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  other  as  the  People  called  Quakers. 

The  severity  of  this  controversy  lasted  from  1701,  when 
Penn  left  the  province,  to  1710,  when  Lloyd  was  completely, 
though  temporarily,  unhorsed.  It  was  a  sad  decade  for 
Quaker  government.  It  is  a  mistake  to  assume,  however, 
that  the  difference  was  as  pervasive  in  the  ranks  as  it  was 
acrid  among  the  leaders.  The  Province  continued  to  pros- 
per, immigrants  came  in,  houses  were  built,  farms  were  laid 
out  and  woods  cleared,  and  the  foundations  of  many  a  for- 
tune and  many  a  happy  home  were  laid.  A  generation  of 
Quaker  politicians  was  being  reared  who  were  learning  the 
meaning  of  self-government  and  democracy.  History  deal- 
ing only  with  men  who  ruled  in  Council  and  Assembly  rec- 
ords the  serious  contests  over  what  seem  sometimes  small 
matters,  but  the  great  body  of  Friends  attended  their  quiet 
meetings  in  simple  harmony  and  satisfaction  with  their  lot. 
David  Lloyd  seems  to  have  expected  that  a  separation  in 
meeting  might  result  from  the  political  conditions,  but 
fortunately  his  prediction  was  not  fulfilled.  James  Logan 
speaks  of  him  as  "  a  discordant  in  the  Friends'  meetings  for 
business,  so  much  so  he  expects  a  separation  and  purging; 
the  young  push  for  rash  measures,  the  old  for  Penn's  inter- 
ests." 

One  of  the  questions  of  the  day  was  the  right  of  the 
Assembly  to  come  together  and  adjourn  at  its  pleasure.  In 
view  of  the  history  of  England  under  the  Stuarts,  now  not 
so  very  far  in  the  background,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  wonder 
that  they  were  sensitive  on  this  point.  William  Penn  had 
granted  in  his  charter  of  1701  the  right  of  the  popular  house, 
to  be,  with  the  assent  of  the  Governor,  the  whole  legislative 
body  of  the  Province,  to  be  elected  on  the  1st  of  October 
every  year  without  any  call  from  the  Governor  and  to  sit 
on  the  14th  following.     The  only  question  remaining  was 


DAVID  LLOYD  93 

as  to  its  right  to  adjourn  to  some  fixed  date  within  the  year 
of  its  service. 

When  in  1702  there  was  difficulty  in  organizing  an  Assem- 
bly owing  to  the  discordant  politics  of  the  Province  and 
Territories  (Pennsylvania  and  Delaware)  which  had  hith- 
erto worked  together  as  one  Colony,  but  were  now  about  sep- 
arating, it  was  suggested  that  the  Governor  might  adjourn 
the  meeting  to  a  future  day.  Immediately  David  Lloyd 
sounded  the  alarm.  Though  it  was  only  a  preliminary  con- 
ference, and  not  an  Assembly,  the  account  states:  "  David 
Lloyd  objected  to  the  word  adjourn,  for  the  Charter  empow- 
ering them  to  sit  on  their  own  adjournments,  they  would 
betray  their  trust  should  they  admit  of  any  other  adjourn- 
ment." His  keen  eye  for  the  establishment  of  a  precedent 
which  would  in  any  degree  threaten  popular  rights  seized 
upon  this  little  point  for  protest. 

The  Governor  did  not  yield  the  matter  ostensibly,  but  the 
Assembly  had  the  habit  of  adjourning  when  it  pleased,  and 
nothing  could  be  done,  so  that  in  time  the  policy  with  which 
we  are  so  well  acquainted  in  the  United  States  became  fully 
established. 

In  1709  Governor  Gookin  sent  word  to  the  Assembly,  "  I 
expect  the  House  shall  not  adjourn  any  longer  than  from 
day  to  day,  till  the  business  further  recommended  to  you 
this  morning  shall  be  issued."  Here  was  a  direct  challenge, 
and  David  Lloyd,  then  Speaker,  accepted  it.  With  an 
unanimous  House  behind  him,  he  passed  resolutions,  an- 
nouncing that  they  would  not  attend  to  the  business  recom- 
mended, and  would  adjourn  when  it  suited  them,  which, 
as  harvest  was  approaching,  they  immediately  proceeded 
to  do.  It  is  not  giving  Lloyd  too  much  credit  to  say  that 
his  influence  largely  secured  to  the  people  of  Pennsylvania 
the  invaluable  right  of  an  independent  legislature. 

Penn  was  a  full  believer  in  civil  liberty,  as  the  advanced 


94      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

men  of  the  times  construed  it,  but  he  was  an  enthusiast  for 
religious  liberty  and  equality  among  the  sects.  He  placed 
this  principle  in  the  forefront  of  all  his  constitutions,  and 
when  he  gave  the  final  one  in  1701  he  asked  that  his  people 
should  take  the  opportunity  to  propose  any  provisions 
which  would  better  secure  their  rights.  The  most  of  them 
had  not,  as  he  had,  any  broad  conception  of  the  value  of 
these  intangible  matters,  but  they  did  want  good  titles  to 
their  property,  low  taxes,  good  roads,  and  all  the  factors 
which  would  lead  to  permanent  material  prosperity.  He 
was  rather  disgusted  when  in  response  to  his  liberal  offers, 
the  House  sent  in  a  reply  dealing  only  with  some  of  these, 
to  him,  minor  matters. 

His  financial  circumstances  were  such  that  he  could  not 
give  away  too  many  of  his  perquisites,  for  the  expenses  of 
government  which  fell  upon  him  were  in  excess  of  his  total 
receipts.  Hence,  some  of  these  matters  were  left  unde- 
termined and  afforded  grounds  of  difference.  All  might, 
however,  have  been  happily  adjusted  had  he  remained  in 
the  country  or  sent  a  judicious  deputy.  But,  after  the 
death  of  Andrew  Hamilton,  whom  he  first  appointed,  he 
sent  over  a  vigorous,  but  not  very  judicious,  man  in  the 
person  of  John  Evans. 

Logan  and  other  of  Penn's  best  friends  rallied  around  him, 
but  Lloyd  was  in  popular  control,  and  for  three  years  (1702- 
1705)  as  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  he  ruled  the  Province 
with  a  high  hand,  finding  abundant  causes  to  quarrel  with 
the  Governor  and  Council  and  using  them  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. 

The  matter  culminated  in  a  list  of  grievances  to  be  sent 
by  the  House  to  William  Penn  in  England.  This  document 
had  a  remarkable  history,  and  was  a  source  of  contention 
for  years  to  come. 

In    the  first  place  it  was  not  addressed  to  Penn  directly, 


DAVID  LLOYD  95 

but  to  certain  English  Friends,  who  were  more  or  less  in- 
imical to  him.  By  a  strange  series  of  accidents,  the  boat 
carrying  it  was  captured  by  a  privateer  and  taken  to  France, 
and  the  bearer  made  a  prisoner.  He  disclosed  his  package 
to  a  brother  prisoner,  who  begged  it  of  him,  and,  being  a 
friend  of  Penn,  forwarded  it  to  the  man  from  whom  Lloyd 
meant  to  keep  it  till  it  had  done  its  work  secretly  among 
the  enemies  of  the  Proprietary. 

Equally  irregular  was  the  method  of  its  passage  through 
the  House.  It  was  brought  up  just  at  the  close  of  a  session 
of  the  Assembly  in  August,  1704,  when  it  was  too  late  to 
write  it  out  in  full  and  have  it  formally  passed  upon.  The 
heads  were  drawn  up  and  a  committee  was  authorized  to 
phrase  them  properly  and  forward  the  product  —  at  least 
so  the  minutes  say;  but  Logan  tells  us,  and  his  word  is 
supported  by  Isaac  Norris,  that  the  statement  was  seen  by 
three  men  only,  David  Lloyd,  Griffith  Jones  and  Joseph  Wil- 
cox; that  the  minute  giving  the  matter  over  to  a  committee 
was  interpolated  after  the  adjournment,  and  that  it  was 
signed  by  David  Lloyd  as  Speaker  after  his  term  had  ex- 
pired. 

Lloyd  defended  himself  ably  in  a  paper  to  the  Assembly 
in  1709  against  these  charges.  He  does  not  deny  that  the 
papers  were  written  but  intimates  that  Logan  got  possession 
of  them  by  unfair  means  and  that  the  interpolations  were 
sanctioned  by  the  committee  or  as  many  of  them  as  could 
be  procured  at  the  time. 

The  heads  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly  referred  to  cer- 
tain charges  against  Penn  relating  to  the  failure  to  perform 
his  duty  as  Proprietary  according  to  his  own  Charter  and 
agreements.  He  had  instructed  his  Deputy  to  issue  writs 
for  election  when  the  House  had  a  right  to  assemble  accord- 
ing to  its  own  adjournment.  He  had  obtained  money  to 
secure  the  ratification  of  laws  in  England,  especially  those 


96      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

giving  relief  to  Friends  in  the  matter  of  oaths,  but  had  not 
accomplished  the  purpose.  His  surveyors  of  land  had  been 
inefficient  or  worse.  He  had  commissioned  the  Judges  and 
they  were  devoted  to  his  own  interests  as  against  those  of 
the  people. 

The  remonstrance  was  accompanied  by  a  letter  from 
David  Lloyd  which  was  even  more  a  bitter  pill  for  the 
Proprietary.  It  told  these  unfriendly  men  "  how  we  have 
been  abused  by  trusting  William  Penn,"  and  emphasized 
the  disadvantage  to  the  Province  brought  upon  it  by  "  the 
revels  and  disorders  of  young  William  Penn  and  his  gang 
of  loose  fellows." 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  wonder  that  William  Penn  who  was 
never  expected  to  see  this  epistle  did  not  feel  pleasantly 
toward  the  writer  in  the  succeeding  years,  and  that  he  was 
quite  willing  to  believe  the  damaging  stories  of  him  in  Lo- 
gan's letters. 

But  Lloyd  had  overreached  himself.  The  Assembly 
chosen  in  the  fall  of  1705  was  of  a  different  sort.  There 
was  a  strong  reaction  in  favor  of  Penn  and  Logan,  David 
Lloyd  was  defeated  for  election  in  Philadelphia  County, 
which  he  had  previously  represented,  but  got  in  from  the 
city.  He  lost  the  Speakership,  and  the  Assembly,  dropping 
the  quarrels  of  the  past,  devoted  its  time  to  useful  legisla- 
tion. 

Now  was  the  time  when  a  good  Governor  could  have  kept 
the  temper  of  the  people  sweet  and  at  the  same  time  resisted 
unjust  claims  against  the  Proprietary.  But  they  had  any- 
thing but  a  good  Governor.  By  a  series  of  inexplicable 
follies,  he  threw  away  all  his  advantages.  He  prosecuted 
an  old  member  of  the  Assembly,  William  Biles,  for  saying 
outside  the  House,  "  The  Governor  is  but  a  boy ;  we'll 
kick  him  out."  He  attempted  to  discredit  Friends'  testi- 
mony against  war  by  raising  a  false  report  of  the  approach 


DAVID  LLOYD  97 

of  a  French  fleet  and  calling  on  every  one  to  arm,  hoping 
that  the  Friends  would  thus  compromise  themselves.  In- 
stead of  which  they  went  to  meeting.  He  built  a  fort  at 
New  Castle,  and  attempted  to  extort  "  powder  money  "  il- 
legally from  owners  of  ships  who  were  mostly  of  his  own 
party. 

In  addition,  he  was  irregular  in  his  own  life,  joined  with 
young  Penn  in  his  revels,  and  bore  no  good  name  in  a  com- 
munity of  strict  Quakers.  His  own  friends  had  to  apolo- 
gize for  him,  and  Logan  finally  advised  the  recall,  but  as  a 
result  again  Lloyd  was  triumphant.  In  1707  and  the  two 
following  years  he  was  elected  Speaker,  resisted  Evans  and 
Logan  with  acrimony  and  success,  and  carried  the  Province 
with  him. 

Nor  did  matters  change  greatly  when  Penn  in  1709  sent 
over  Charles  Gookin  to  supersede  Evans.  The  personal 
faults  of  Evans  were  not  reproduced  in  Gookin,  but  he  was 
obstinate  and  headstrong,  and  perhaps,  as  he  himself  in- 
timated, a  little  unbalanced  mentally. 

There  were,  however,  two  underlying  causes  for  the 
trouble.  One  was  that  Penn  was  now  in  desperate  finan- 
cial straits,  and  could  not  yield  his  perquisites  except  at  the 
cost  of  absolute  ruin.  His  part  of  the  expenses  of  govern- 
ment had  to  be  borne,  the  quit-rents  were  coming  in  slowly, 
and  his  steward,  Ford,  had  cheated  him  out  of  his  fortune. 
The  income  from  fines,  licenses  and  other  governmental 
functions  were  his  by  the  arrangement  previously  made, 
and  he  could  not  afford  to  yield  them. 

The  other  was  that  while  Deputy  Governors  changed, 
Logan  remained.  He  could  not  always  control  the  unwise 
acts  of  the  Deputies,  but  he  could  largely  influence  general 
policy  and  was  absolutely  faithful  to  the  Penn  interests. 
The  matters  for  which  Lloyd  contended  were  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  larger  democracy  and  prosperity  of  the  colony, 


98      POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

but  Penn  could  not  afford  to  give  up  his  undoubted  rights, 
and  Logan  would  not  yield  one  iota  to  popular  clamor. 
Lloyd  was  right  in  looking  upon  Logan  as  his  great  antag- 
onist. Both  were  determined  and  fearless,  and  personal 
feeling  was  added  to  political  diversity  of  interests. 

One  of  the  subjects  about  which  the  controversy  raged 
was  the  composition  of  the  courts  of  Justice.  The  char- 
ter of  Charles  II  to  William  Penn  gave  him  the  right  to 
establish  courts  and  appoint  their  ofiicers.  He  finally  al- 
lowed the  Assembly  to  draw  up  bills  for  such  establishment, 
but  retained  the  appointment  of  judges  and  clerks.  As 
Penn's  interests  were  larger  than  those  of  any  other  indi- 
vidual, Lloyd's  claim  was  that  these  ofiicers  should  be  in- 
dependent of  any  obligations  to  him.  There  appear  to 
have  been  no  serious  complaints  as  to  the  character  of  these 
officials,  or  that  substantial  justice  was  not  done. 

Again,  in  a  community  of  Friends,  it  was  of  vital  conse- 
quence that  a  juror  or  witness  should  be  accepted  on  his 
afiirmation,  for  he  would  not  swear.  It  would  be  impos- 
sible to  secure  competent  administration  of  justice  without 
Friends,  for  in  all  the  country  communities  they  constituted 
nearly  all  the  responsible  people.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
Penn  appreciated  this,  but  the  charge  of  Lloyd  was  that  he 
did  not  succeed  in  having  laws  ratified  in  England  making 
provision  for  the  full  acceptance  of  the  affirmation  as  equiv- 
alent to  the  oath. 

Then  there  was  the  burning  question  of  the  licensing  of 
public  houses.  Lloyd  and  the  Assembly  claimed  that  this 
was  one  of  the  proper  functions  of  the  courts  and  that  the 
licensees  should  be  appointed  by  local  authority  rather  than 
by  the  Proprietary,  so  as  to  secure  the  choice  of  proper  per- 
sons, who  would  restrain  drunkenness  and  attendant  crimes. 

All  these  and  other  matters  were  to  be  fought  through 
between  the  Governor  and  Logan  on  one  side  and  Lloyd  and 
the  Assembly  on  the  other. 


DAVID  LLOYD  99 

In  the  fall  of  1706  Lloyd  had  a  bill  passed  through  the 
Assembly  for  a  Supreme  Court  with  three  judges  to  which 
appeals  could  be  made,  also  local  courts  for  the  counties  for 
ordinary  crimes,  having  also  the  power  to  grant  licenses  for 
taverns  —  providing  that  all  fines  should  go  toward  the 
payment  of  the  judges,  who  should  be  removable  by  the 
Assembly  and  therefore  out  of  reach  of  Proprietary  in- 
fluence; that  the  judges  should  appoint  the  clerks,  and  that 
freeholders  should  not  be  imprisoned  for  debt. 

This,  of  course,  would  be  a  great  step  in  advance  towards 
popular  control  of  the  course  of  justice.  The  Governor 
objected  to  it  in  toto.  There  was  no  need  for  more  than 
one  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  —  fines  and  fees  belonged 
to  the  Proprietary,  and  judges  and  clerks  should  not  be  in- 
dependent of  him.  It  was  a  Proprietary  prerogative  which 
the  Assembly  had  no  authority  to  question,  granted  by  the 
charter  and  due  to  him  in  return  for  his  large  concessions 
and  care  of  the  province. 

The  Governor  threatened  to  establish  courts  on  his  own 
authority,  as  the  royal  charter  empowered  him  to  do  in 
certain  cases,  but  the  Assembly  told  him  that  any  one  who 
should  advise  this  would  be  considered  an  enemy  of  the 
country. 

A  conference  was  arranged  between  the  Council  and 
Assembly  and  a  point  of  etiquette  now  threatened  a  com- 
plete stop  to  legislation.  After  the  matter  had  been  de- 
bated courteously  for  a  time  Lloyd  neglected  to  rise  when 
he  spoke.  The  Governor  commanded  him  to  do  so.  To 
Lloyd  this  command  was  sufficient  to  arouse  his  pugnacity 
and  he  refused  to  obey,  saying  that  he  represented  the 
people  and  in  an  open  conference  no  special  deference  to  the 
Governor  was  necessary.  This  broke  up  the  conference. 
The  Assembly  sent  a  semi-apologetic  message  to  the  Gov- 
ernor,  and   Lloyd   himself   wrote   a   defense   which   could 


loo     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

hardly  be  called  an  apology,  ending  with  these  words,  char- 
acteristic of  the  man:  "  I  do  solemnly  declare  that  my  re- 
fusal to  comply  with  the  Governor's  hmnour  (for  so  I  con- 
ceive it  to  be  when  he  exerts  his  command  when  he  should 
not)  was  not  with  a  design  to  affront  him  but  to  show  my 
dissent  to  that  which  I  thought  had  a  tendency  to  frustrate 
the  freedom  of  conferences ;  not  knowing,  if  I  complied  with 
this,  whether  the  next  command  would  not  more  highly 
affect  the  rights  and  privileges  of  this  house  which  I  am 
conscientiously  concerned  to  maintain  everywhere,  and  if 
in  this  I  have  done  any  thing  unbecoming  the  station  you 
have  put  me  in  I  shall  freely  submit  to  your  censure." 

The  Governor  tried  to  secure  a  more  personal  apology, 
but  he  never  received  it,  and  the  incident  added  to  the  bit- 
terness of  the  times. 

Ultimately  compromises  were  reached  embracing  the 
most  for  which  Lloyd  had  striven.  The  Proprietary  re- 
tained the  right  to  appoint  clerks  of  the  courts  and  holders 
of  licenses,  but  these  could  be  nominated  by  provincial 
bodies.  Judges  independent  of  the  Penn  interests  were  not 
appointed  by  the  Crown  according  to  Lloyd's  plan,  but  men 
of  highest  character  were  chosen,  and  Lloyd  himself  did 
not  disdain  to  accept  a  few  years  later  the  office  of  Chief 
Justice  from  his  patrons'  hands. 

But  Lloyd  and  Logan  in  the  forefront  of  the  controversy 
recognized,  each  the  other,  as  the  chief  obstacle  to  his  plans. 
Penn  sent  over  pressing  advice  to  impeach  Lloyd,  for  ac- 
cepting office  illegally  under  Thomas  Lloyd  and  for  his  ir- 
regular actions  in  the  case  of  the  remonstrance  of  1704. 
Logan  said  that  there  were  no  substantial  grounds  on  which 
to  build  an  impeachment  and  was  too  wise  to  attempt  it. 
But  Lloyd  with  the  full  Assembly  back  of  him  entered  joy- 
ously upon  an  impeachment  of  Logan.  The  real  reason  was 
that  Logan  had  the  brains  and  courage  of  the  administra- 


DAVID  LLOYD  loi 

tion  and  Lloyd  was  right  in  considering  him  the  chief  ob- 
stacle in  the  way.  Much  time  and  much  legal  fencing  were 
employed,  but  the  matter  came  to  an  end  when  the  Council 
decided  that  it  had  no  authority  to  try  impeachments  and 
the  Secretary  was  saved.  He  shortly  after  went  to  England 
on  a  visit  and  returned  stronger  than  ever. 

Governor  Gookin  next  tried  a  tilt  with  Lloyd  in  the  mat- 
ter of  an  appropriation  for  a  military  expedition  against 
the  French  in  Canada.  In  a  rather  facetious  letter  he  him- 
self tells  the  results:  "  The  Queen  having  honored  me  with 
her  commands  that  this  Province  should  furnish  out  150 
men  for  its  expedition  against  Canada,  I  called  an  Assembly 
and  demanded  £4,000;  they  being  all  Quakers,  after  much 
delay  resolved,  N.  C,  that  it  was  contrary  to  their  religious 
principles  to  hire  men  to  kill  one  another,  I  told  some  of 
them  the  Queen  did  not  hire  men  to  kill  one  another,  but 
to  destroy  her  enemies.  One  of  them  answered  the 
Assembly  understood  English.  After  I  had  tried  all  ways 
to  bring  them  to  reason  they  again  resolved,  N.  C,  that 
they  could  not  directly  or  indirectly  raise  money  for  an 
expedition  to  Canada,  but  they  had  voted  the  Queen  £500 
as  a  token  of  their  respect,  etc.,  and  that  the  money  should 
be  put  into  a  safe  hand  till  they  were  satisfied  from  Eng- 
land it  should  not  be  employed  for  the  use  of  war.  I  told 
them  the  Queen  did  not  want  such  a  sum,  but  being  a  pious 
and  good  women  perhaps  she  might  give  it  to  the  clergy 
sent  hither  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel;  one  of  them 
answered  that  was  worse  than  the  other,  on  which  arose  a 
debate  in  the  Assembly  whether  they  should  give  money  or 
not,  since  it  might  be  employed  for  the  use  of  war,  or  against 
their  future  establishment,  and  after  much  wise  debate  it 
was  carried  in  the  affirmative  by  one  voice  only.  Their 
number  is  26.^  They  are  entirely  governed  by  their 
speaker,  one  David  Lloyd." 

1  Eight  from  each  county  and  two  from  Philadelphia. 


102     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

But  the  people  finally  got  tired  of  the  bickerings  of 
parties.  Lloyd  in  his  contest  with  Evans  and  Logan  had 
again  overstepped  the  mark.  In  the  fall  of  1710  the  elec- 
tion showed  a  completely  new  Assembly.  Neither  Lloyd 
nor  any  of  his  followers  was  returned.  Instead  there  came 
in  William  Trent,  Jonathan  Dickinson,  Caleb  Pusey,  Rich- 
ard Hill,  Isaac  Norris  and  other  of  the  best  friends  of  Wil- 
liam Penn.  There  was  what  would  be  called  in  modern 
politics  "  a  tidal  wave  "  which  showed  that,  except  for 
serious  errors  by  deputies,  the  heart  of  the  people  was  true 
to  the  Founder.  Impeachments  were  dropped,  £2,000  was 
voted  "  for  the  Queen's  use,"  abundance  of  useful  legisla- 
tion, held  back  by  the  partisanship  of  previous  years  was 
created,  and  the  youthful  province  having  passed  over  the 
perilous  times  of  infancy,  started  fairly  on  its  successful 
career. 

Lloyd  was  temporarily  laid  aside,  and  yet  his  great  ser- 
vices in  founding  the  real  democracy  of  Pennsylvania  under 
the  generous  provisions  of  the  Founder  had  largely  been 
accomplished.  Whether  he  felt  this  or  whether  about  this 
time  he  experienced  a  real  change  of  heart,  as  suggested  by 
some  biographers,  may  never  be  known,  but  certain  it  is 
that  the  peaceful  and  also  effective  part  of  his  life  and  pub- 
lic employment  was  yet  to  follow  in  a  score  of  years  of 
honored  and  honorable  service. 

He  did  not  remain  long  out  of  office.  About  1711  he 
moved  his  residence  from  Philadelphia  to  Chester;  in  the 
same  year  he  was  elected  to  the  Assembly  from  Chester 
County,  but  did  not  receive  the  Speakership.  This  also 
happened  in  1712  and  1713.  In  1714,  however,  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  Speaker,  for  which  service,  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  no  one  could  compete  with  him  in  capability.  The 
records  of  the  time  indicate  the  great  prosperity  of  the 
Province  growing  in  wealth  and  population  at  a  rapid  rate, 


DAVID  LLOYD  103 

and  the  absence  of  the  unhappy  divisions  of  earlier  years. 
A  further  indication  of  the  softening  of  the  partisan  asperi- 
ties of  the  first  decade  of  the  century  was  the  appointment 
of  David  Lloyd  as  Chief  Justice  in  1718  to  succeed  his 
father-in-law,  Joseph  Growdon,  who  had  held  the  position 
for  ten  years  preceding  and  who  had  frequently  opposed 
him  in  the  House. 

In  May,  1717,  Sir  William  Keith  succeeded  Governor 
Gookin.  He  was  selected  by  Hannah  Penn,  for  while  her 
husband  was  still  alive,  he  had  so  far  failed  in  body  and 
mind  as  to  be  incapable  of  business  and  about  a  year  later 
died. 

Keith  was  a  wise  and  politic  Governor.  He  had  the  con- 
fidence of  Logan  and  Norris  and  he  now  undertook  to  se- 
cure the  support  of  Lloyd  and  the  Assembly.  He  rightly 
judged  that  the  Quakers  must  be  kept  friendly  to  him  if 
he  would  be  preserved  from  endless  disputes.  He  found 
them  troubled  with  their  diSiculties  as  to  oaths,  and  in  a 
diplomatic  way  suggested  that  they  should  adopt  the  Eng- 
lish penal  code  and  in  exchange  receive  the  right  to  affirm 
instead  of  swearing.  The  same  bill  which  made  an  aflfirm- 
ation  legal  for  those  whose  consciences  would  not  allow 
them  to  swear,  extended  capital  punishment  to  burglary, 
rape,  counterfeiting  and  other  serious  crimes.  The  mild 
penal  code  of  Penn  wherein  murder  only  was  made  a  capi- 
tal offense  and  which  was  applied  to  one  case  only  prior  to 
1700,  died  with  him.  There  seems  to  have  been  no  testi- 
mony against  capital  punishment  among  Friends.  David 
Lloyd,  a  member  in  good  standing,  drew  up  the  bill,  it 
was  passed  by  a  Quaker  Assembly,  approved  by  a  Quaker 
Council  and  endorsed  by  a  Quaker  community.  Had  they 
felt  as  most  modern  Friends  do,  it  may  be  considered  as 
doubtful  whether  the  right  to  affirm  would  have  been 
deemed  a  sufficient  compensation  for  a  severe  code  involv- 


104     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ing  capital  punishment.  We  can  easily  appreciate  how 
much  the  affirmation  meant  to  them.  For  without  it  they 
would  have  been  deprived  of  all  share  in  government  and 
anarchy  would  have  resulted.  But  we  can  hardly  appre- 
ciate that  a  testimony  against  capital  punishment  did  not 
mean  as  much. 

Governor  Keith's  entire  attitude  was  gracious  and  con- 
ciliatory. He  had  learned  from  the  experience  of  former 
Governors  how  hard  a  task  it  was  to  contest  a  popular 
Assembly  led  by  David  Lloyd  and  he  went  over  completely 
to  the  other  side,  yet  at  first  not  so  imprudently  as  to  draw 
fire  from  Logan  and  his  friends.  Lloyd  was  made  Chief 
Justice  and  the  Governor  assumed  the  role  of  protector  of 
popular  liberties,  thus  procuring  for  himself  immediate  sup- 
port. He  had  his  reward  in  prompt  votes  for  salary  and 
easy  times. 

Material  prosperity  accompanied  political  peace.  There 
was  only  one  drawback,  the  lack  of  ready  money.  Coin 
was  drained  to  Europe  to  make  the  purchases  needed  by  a 
growing  community  which  imported  far  more  than  it  ex- 
ported. Barter  was  conmion,  but  was  inconvenient.  Keith 
shrewdly  suggested  a  paper  currency.  Norris  and  Logan 
objected  and  their  fears  were  echoed  from  England.  There 
seemed  to  be  abundant  ground  for  hesitation.  Many  of  the 
Colonies  had  tried  it,  and  with  disastrous  results.  As  a 
little  stimulated  trade,  more,  they  argued,  would  be  better; 
and  they  increased  the  amount  until  it  lost  its  purchasing 
power  and  depreciated.  But  Lloyd  and  his  friends  urged 
it  and  Keith  had  his  way. 

This  balance  of  forces  was  just  what  was  needed  to  make 
it  a  success.  It  was  issued  sparingly  on  the  security  of 
land  and  plate.  It  stimulated  trade  and  never  depreciated. 
Pennsylvania  taught  the  lesson,  and  all  through  her  colo- 
nial history  she  had  an  abundant  stable  paper  currency,  due 


DAVID  LLOYD  105 

largely  to  the  initiative  of  Keith  and  Lloyd  and  the  caution 
of  Logan.  But  the  latter  element  did  not  win  the  popular 
appreciation  as  did  the  former,  and  Keith  became  im- 
mensely popular.  The  Assembly  sent  him  a  congratulatory 
letter  and  a  vote  of  supplies.  The  Council,  which  had  been 
largely  ignored  by  the  Governor,  as  indeed  by  the  charter 
of  1701  he  had  a  right  to  ignore  it,  as  having  no  necessary 
function  in  legislation,  drew  away  from  him,  and  in  1722 
Keith,  feeling  himself  strong  enough  to  dispense  with  it, 
removed  Logan  from  his  offices  as  Councillor  and  Secretary, 
thus  forcing  him  out  of  the  government  entirely. 

But  Logan  was  still  strong  with  Hannah  Penn,  and  sail- 
ing to  England  he  soon  returned  with  definite  instructions 
to  Keith,  threatening  him  with  removal.  Keith  was  consti- 
tutionally right,  but  he  was  the  servant  of  the  heirs  of  Wil- 
liam Penn,  and  they  trusted  Logan.  He  concluded  to  stand 
by  his  plans,  and  to  set  against  proprietary  powers,  popu- 
lar support.  Logan  attacked  him  in  a  long  memorial,  and 
David,  with  some  of  the  spirit  and  vigor  of  a  score  of  years 
earlier,  entered  the  lists  against  his  old  adversary.  His 
abundant  citation  of  authorities  and  able  legal  arguments 
were  conclusive,  if  such  matters  could  settle  the  question. 
He  was  again  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  as  well  as  Chief 
Justice,  and  that  body  under  his  guidance  sent  to  Hannah 
Penn  a  remonstrance  against  the  contemplated  removal  of 
the  Governor  and  a  eulogy  of  his  services  to  the  state. 

From  the  Lloyd  point  of  view  the  administration  of  Keith 
was  the  consummation  of  the  efforts  for  which  he  had  been 
struggling  for  many  years.  The  Assembly,  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people,  had  been  exalted  and  their  rights 
defined  and  extended.  The  Courts  had  been  created  by  the 
act  of  Assembly,  made  reasonably  responsive  to  popular 
demands  and  the  great  democratic  leader  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  system.     The  Quakers  had  received  that  for  which 


io6     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Lloyd  had  always  pleaded  —  the  right  to  a  full  participa- 
tion in  government  without  being  sworn.  English  wars 
had  ceased  to  disturb  the  peaceable  principles  of  the  ruling 
sect,  and  to  crown  all  a  stable  material  prosperity,  satisfy- 
ing alike  to  proprietaries  and  people,  had  settled  down  upon 
the  province.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Lloyd  in  his 
old  age  awakened  from  his  quietude  to  defend  the  cause 
with  which  he  had  been  so  long  and  so  intimately  associated 
in  his  earlier  years. 

With  such  a  record  and  such  support  Keith  thought  he 
could  defy  England.  He  felt  that  the  heirs  would  hardly 
dare  to  remove  him,  and  if  they  did  he  imagined  he  might 
even  overthrow  the  proprietary  government  itself  and  make 
a  crown  colony,  with  himself  as  Governor. 

But  with  all  that  he  had  learned  he  under-estimated  the 
strength  of  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  to 
the  Founder's  family,  and  when  the  day  of  his  removal  came 
he  had  nothing  to  do  but  hand  over  his  office  to  old  Patrick 
Gordon,  who,  in  1726,  had  been  sent  over  to  supersede  him. 

Lloyd  also  accepted  the  failure  of  his  plans  gracefully. 
Indeed,  he  and  the  Assembly  may  almost  be  accused  of 
apostasy  by  allowing  their  enthusiasm  for  Keith  to  pass 
away.  When  the  ex-Governor  had  himself  elected  to  the 
next  Assembly  and  became  a  candidate  for  Speaker,  Lloyd 
turned  against  him  and  easily  defeated  him.  His  further 
career  was  neither  happy  nor  dignified,  and  the  unwisdom 
of  his  closing  years  was  allowed  to  cloud  his  great  services 
to  the  cause  of  free  government. 

This  was  the  last  important  public  controversy  of  David 
Lloyd.  In  honored  performance  of  his  duties  as  Chief 
Justice  he  lived  until  1731.     He  died  aged  75  years. 

After  this  sketch  of  David  Lloyd's  life  it  is  unnecessary 
to  say  much  as  to  his  character.  He  was  a  great  lawyer, 
probably  the   greatest  of  colonial  Pennsylvania.     In  this 


DAVID  LLOYD  107 

capacity  he  was  always  efficient  and  faithful  to  his  clients, 
sometimes  possibly  at  the  expense  of  pure  morality.  In 
most  legal  circles  this  would  hardly  seem  a  fault,  but  the 
Quakers  of  the  time  from  their  lay  standpoint  could  not 
always  justify  him. 

As  a  politician  he  was  equally  competent.  He  led  by 
sheer  ability  and  persistence.  Logan  tells  us  —  and  this 
was  at  the  time  before  their  personal  differences  had  de- 
veloped: "  He  is  a  man  very  stiff  in  all  his  undertakings,  of 
a  sound  judgment  and  a  good  lawyer,  but  extremely  per- 
tinacious and  somewhat  revengeful."  Proud  says  cau- 
tiously: ''His  political  talents  seem  rather  to  divide  than 
to  unite;  a  policy  that  may  suit  the  crafty  politician  but 
must  ever  be  disclaimed  by  the  Christian  statesman." 

It  is  unfair  to  assume  that  Logan's  further  estimates  of 
his  character,  given  in  the  heat  of  their  partisan  controversy, 
are  conclusive.  He  tells,  however,  how  it  was  that  Lloyd 
maintained  his  great  influence  in  the  Assembly,  and  we  may 
at  least  guess  the  truth  from  his  statements.  "  The  generality 
(of  the  Assemblymen)  are  honest  and  well  inclined  and  out 
of  the  Assembly  are  very  good  men,  but  when  got  together 
I  know  not  how  they  are  infatuated  and  led  by  smooth 
stories,"  and  again  he  speaks  of  the  great  influence  "  he  has 
over  the  majority  composed  of  designing  and  weak  men," 
and  again  "  He  carries  so  fair  with  our  weak  country  people 
and  those  that  have  long  looked  upon  him  to  be  the  cham- 
pion of  the  Friends'  cause  in  government  matters  in  former 
times  that  there  is  no  possessing  them."  And  again,  "  Jones 
and  Wilcox  stand  by  him  in  mischievous  intentions.  The 
rest  think  they  are  faithfully  discharging  their  duty  to  the 
country." 

Lloyd  was  the  great  leader  of  the  country  members,  and 
these  were  a  large  majority  of  the  Assembly.  They  were 
worthy,  honest  men,  but  Lloyd  was  so  vastly  their  superior 


io8     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

in  learning,  ability  and  political  skill  that  he  practically- 
voted  them  as  he  would.  Whenever  the  Logan  party  got 
control  a  much  abler  and  more  responsible  body  of  men 
appeared  in  the  Assembly,  only  to  be  thrown  aside  when 
Lloyd  returned  to  power. 

David  Lloyd  became  for  the  times  wealthy,  but  no  sus- 
picion of  mercenary  methods  appears  in  his  politics.  He 
probably  made  his  money  by  his  legal  practice  and  still 
more  by  advances  on  real  estate.  His  salary  as  Chief 
Justice  was  generally  £150  a  year,  and  the  Assembly  paid 
him  for  his  labors  in  framing  legislation  and  writing  ad- 
dresses, but  his  public  work  would  not  explain  more  than 
a  poor  living. 

As  a  Friend  we  do  not  find  him  prominently  mentioned  in 
the  minutes  of  the  meetings  —  at  least  in  comparison  with 
the  records  of  Samuel  Carpenter,  Isaac  Norris  and  many 
another.  Perhaps  there  was,  as  the  minutes  of  Philadelphia 
Monthly  Meeting  in  the  case  of  the  dispute  with  Pastorius 
show,  a  lurking  suspicion  that  his  methods  could  not  be 
full}''  justified. 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  however,  that  Chester  Monthly 
Meeting  was  the  most  persistent  of  any  in  urging  upon  the 
Yearly  Meeting  the  iniquity  of  the  slave  trade  and  the  ne- 
cessity to  take  strong  action.^  The  first  one  of  these  epistles 
was  in  1711,  which  was  the  year  Lloyd  moved  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Chester,  and  the  last  was  in  1730,  the  year  before 
he  died,  and  their  style  suggests  the  bold,  vigorous,  uncom- 
promising spirit  that  penned  the  Assembly  addresses  of  the 
same  period.  This  is  not  conclusive,  but  it  seems  highly 
probable  that  the  attitude  of  the  early  Friends  of  Pennsyl- 
vania towards  questions  of  slavery  was  largely  due  to  the 
clear  thinking  and  fearless  writing  of  David  Lloyd. 

David   Lloyd's   second   wife   was   Grace   Growdon,   the 

^  See  Whittier's  Introduction  to  "John  Woolman's  Journal." 


DAVID  LLOYD  109 

daughter  of  Joseph  Growdon,  of  Bucks  County,  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  colony  and  in  the  main  an  adherent  of 
the  Penn-Logan  party.  Why  the  father  cut  off  Grace  with 
five  shillings  in  his  will  is  probably  not  known,  but  he  fre- 
quently opposed  his  son-in-law  in  politics.  They  were 
married  in  1697.  Their  only  son  died  when  four  years  old, 
as  the  result,  it  is  stated,  of  fright  because  he  was  placed  in 
a  dark  closet  for  punishment  during  the  absence  of  his  par- 
ents. David  Lloyd  had  no  descendants  to  care  for  his  rep- 
utation, and  except  in  the  public  records,  and  a  defense  in 
the  Penn-Logan  correspondence,  he  left  but  little  about 
himself. 

He  had  landed  interests  in  Chester  and  represented  Ches- 
ter County  in  the  Assembly  until  1700.  Then  he  trans- 
ferred his  residence  to  Philadelphia,  and  that  county  made 
him  its  representative  for  the  coming  decade.  Afterwards 
he  moved  to  Chester  for  his  declining  years. 

Grace  Lloyd  was  a  minister  in  the  Society  of  Friends  and 
was  much  loved  and  trusted.  There  is  an  account  in  the 
life  of  Jane  Hoskins  ^  which  gives  a  little  insight  into  the 
family  and  religious  life  of  David  and  Grace  Lloyd. 

Jane  Fenn  (afterwards  Hoskins)  came  over  to  Penn- 
sylvania in  1712,  in  response  to  a  call  of  duty.  She  was  of 
poor  circumstances,  and  engaged  herself  as  a  servant  in 
Friends'  families,  at  the  same  time  diligently  attending  reli- 
gious meetings.  She  tells  her  own  story:  "  One  First-day 
after  I  had  sat  some  time  in  Haverford  Meeting,  David 
Lloyd  from  Chester,  with  his  wife  and  several  other  Friends 
came  into  meeting.  As  soon  as  they  were  seated,  it  was 
as  though  it  had  been  spoken  to  me,  '  These  are  the  people 
with  whom  thou  must  go  and  settle.'  They  being  strangers 
to  me,  and  appearing  as  persons  of  distinction,  I  said, 
Lord,  how  can  such  an  one  as  I  get  acquainted  with  people 
1  Friends'  Library,  Vol.  I,  p.  460,  etc. 


no     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

who  appear  so  much  above  the  common  rank.  The  word 
was  in  my  soul,  *  Be  still,  I  will  make  way  for  thee  in  their 
hearts  —  they  shall  seek  to  thee.'  I  knew  not  what  to  think 
of  this,  and  was  afraid  it  might  be  a  temptation  of  Satan; 
yet  was  contented  in  the  thought,  that  the  Lord  who  never 
yet  failed,  was  all-sufficient  to  provide  for  me.  At  that 
instant  a  great  stillness  came  over  me,  and  I  felt  the  love 
of  my  heavenly  Father  to  affect  me  in  a  very  uncommon 
manner.  I  afterwards  understood  that  David  Lloyd  and 
his  wife  fixed  their  eyes  upon  me,  felt  a  near  sympathy 
with  me,  such  as  they  had  never  known  towards  a  stranger 
before,  and  said  in  their  hearts,  this  young  woman  is  or  will 
be  a  preacher.  They  were  both  tendered,  and  it  was  fixed 
in  their  minds,  that  they  were  to  take  me  under  their  care, 
and  nurse  me  for  the  Lord's  service,  with  a  promise  that  his 
blessing  should  attend  them.  This  I  had  from  their  own 
mouths  after  I  lived  with  them." 

Jane  Fenn  became  "  an  upper  servant "  in  the  family  of 
David  Lloyd.  This  came  in  response  to  a  suggestion  of  an 
English  Friend  who  had  become  interested  in  her  religious 
life.  "  After  dinner,"  she  says,  "  the  Friend  spoke  to  David 
Lloyd  and  his  wife.  '  Take  this  young  woman,  make  her 
your  adopted  child  and  give  her  liberty  to  go  wherever 
Truth  leads.'  .  .  .  Grace  Lloyd  then  took  me  into  another 
apartment  and  told  me  how  she  and  her  husband  were 
drawn  in  love  to  me  the  first  time  they  saw  me  at  Haver- 
ford." 

Jane  Fenn  became  a  minister  and  made  extensive  travels 
through  other  colonies,  to  Barbadoes  and  later  to  Ireland 
and  England  in  religious  service.  She  returned  from  a  for- 
eign trip  in  1730  "  and  was  affectionately  received  by  my 
kind  friends  and  benefactors,  David  and  Grace  Lloyd, 

"  Soon  after  my  arrival  David  Lloyd  was  taken  ill  with 
his  last  sickness,  during  which  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  at- 


DAVID  LLOYD  in 

tend  on  him  as  usual.  On  the  6th  of  the  second  month, 
1731,  he  departed  this  life;  and  in  him  I  lost  a  father,  and 
a  sure  friend.  In  all  the  journeys  I  went,  whilst  he  lived, 
he  cheerfully  supplied  me  with  the  necessaries  requisite. 
He  was  exemplary  in  his  family,  treating  all  about  him  with 
humanity,  choosing  rather  to  be  loved  than  feared.  He  was 
diligent  in  attending  meetings  for  worship,  and  those  of 
his  servants  who  inclined  to  go  to  meetings,  he  allowed  to 
perform  that  necessary  duty.  After  my  arrival  I  did  not 
live  as  an  hired  servant  with  David  Lloyd,  or  with  his 
widow,  though  I  remained  with  her,  at  her  request,  till  I 
married,  which  was  in  the  year  1738." 

The  value  of  David  Lloyd's  services  to  the  state  will  lie, 
(1)  in  his  successful  insistence  upon  an  independent  legis- 
lature. He  had  evidently  a  large  though  undetermined 
share  in  procuring  from  Penn  the  charter  of  1701,  which  cut 
the  Council  out  of  all  legislative  powers.  He  was  ever  keen 
to  notice  any  small  attempts  to  reinstate  it  in  such  powers 
in  indirect  ways.  He  had  the  modern  faith  in  the  people 
and  was  jealous  of  any  tendency  which  would  circumscribe 
the  privilege  of  the  elective  Assembly.  (2)  He,  more  than 
any  other  man,  fought  out  the  Quaker  battle  for  the  affirm- 
ation instead  of  the  oath,  and  for  the  further  contest  for 
a  form  of  affirmation  which  was  simply  a  promise,  with- 
out bringing  in  the  name  of  God,  which  in  some  minds  made 
it  a  modified  oath;  and  (3)  while  Penn  arranged  for  an 
executive  and  a  legislature,  he  omitted  to  make  provision 
for  a  judiciary,  probably  intending  to  create  this  by  his 
own  authority  under  his  charter  from  the  King.  The  form 
which  the  machinery  of  the  courts  finally  assumed  and  its 
large  independence  of  proprietary  influence,  was  the  great 
work  of  David  Lloyd. 

In  the  words  of  Proud,  it  is  true  that  Lloyd's  efforts 
"  tended  rather  to  divide  than  to  unite."    He  could  not 


112     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

work  comfortably  with  opponents  and  bring  them  to  his 
own  point  of  view.  By  his  staunch  Quakerism  and  superior 
knowledge  he  brought  his  followers  into  loyal  allegiance, 
but  he  was  uncompromising  in  his  attitude  towards  opposi- 
tion. Whether  the  beneficent  results  of  his  career  could 
have  been  achieved  by  a  gentler  spirit,  less  tenacious  of 
every  little  point,  arousing  less  personal  antagonism,  more 
gracious  and  diplomatic  in  argument,  may  be  difficult  to 
determine  with  certainty.  It  is  not  unreasonable  so  to 
think. 

But  it  is  diiSicult  to  estimate  the  full  value  of  his  ser- 
vices. His  strong  personality,  his  persistent  energy,  his  ex- 
treme perception  of  the  value  of  liberty  and  determination 
to  defend  it  against  any,  even  small,  encroachments,  made 
him  a  strong  factor,  perhaps  after  William  Penn  the  strong- 
est factor,  in  building  up  the  colonial  Commonwealth  on  the 
basis  of  popular  rights.  Had  he  known  how  the  letters  of 
his  great  rival  to  Penn  would  have  formed  the  basis  of  his- 
tory, he  might  have  left  stronger  defences  of  his  work  and 
positions.  There  is  not  much  evidence,  however,  that  he 
considered  the  judgment  of  the  future  as  of  consequence. 
He  was  too  busy  attaining  immediate  objects.  It  is  only 
in  quite  recent  times  that  his  name  and  reputation  have 
emerged  from  the  mass  of  statements  against  him  contained 
in  the  voluminous  letters  of  political  opponents  and  their 
descendants.  Without  family,  with  a  following,  numerous 
and  devoted  but  not  literary,  with  an  independence  which 
kept  him  in  somewhat  doubtful  relations  to  many  of  the 
prominent  Friends  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  without  ade- 
quate biography,  he  has  hardly  received  the  attention  which 
his  undoubtedly  great  public  services  demand. 

His  countrymen  appreciated  him.  The  Rev.  Abel  Mor- 
gan wrote  a  Welsh  Concordance  to  the  Bible,  which  was 
published  in  1730  and  dedicated  to  Chief  Justice  Lloyd  as 


DAVID  LLOYD  113 

a  token  of  esteem  and  an  appreciation  of  his  devotion  to 
the  principles  of  liberty.  He  aided  in  the  revision  of  the 
translation  of  a  religious  treatise  called  "  A  Salutation  to 
the  Britains."  During  his  later  years  he  published  two 
small  treatises:  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Legislative  Powers," 
and  "  A  Further  Vindication  of  the  Rights  and  Privileges  of 
the  People  of  Pennsylvania." 

These  were  the  occupations  of  his  declining  years  of 
peaceful  repose  in  contrast  with  the  stirring  scenes  of  his 
earlier  life.  They  indicate,  however,  that  the  trend  of  his 
thoughts  never  changed. 


JAMES  LOGAN 

It  is  usually  stated  that  James  Logan  was  a  descendant 
of  a  noble  Logan  family  of  Scotland.  This  has  probably 
not  been  certainly  proven.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose 
to  state  that  his  father  was  Patrick  Logan,  a  Presbyterian 
minister  who  joined  Friends  and  moved  to  the  north  of  Ire- 
land where  James  was  born.  He  thus  inherited  his  Quaker- 
ism. There  are  however  various  events  in  his  life  which 
show  that  he  also  inherited  that  vigorous  militant  blood  of 
the  people  commonly  called  Scotch-Irish,  who  so  much 
disturbed  the  Quaker  relations  with  the  Indians  on  the 
frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  who  largely  settled  the  western 
end  of  the  province  and  spread  themselves  down  the  Appa- 
lachian country  to  the  south,  who  were  the  choicest  enemies 
of  Quakerism  whenever  they  came  into  conflict,  and  through 
whose  influence  Pennsylvania  was  largely  drawn  into  the 
Revolutionary  War. 

He  did  not  much  like  the  company  of  his  compatriots 
that  came  later  in  provincial  times.  They  were  the  great 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  Indian  policy  which  he  had 
inherited  from  William  Penn  and  which  he  faithfully  ad- 
hered to,  and  he  did  not  fancy  their  rough  uncouth  man- 
ners. "  It  is  strange  that  they  thus  crowd  in  where  they 
are  not  wanted.  .  .  .  The  Indians  themselves  are  alarmed 
at  the  swarms  of  strangers  and  we  are  afraid  of  a  breach 
between  them,  for  the  Irish  are  very  rough  to  them,"  he 
says,  —  a  prophecy  soon  verified. 

He  was  born  on  October  20th,  1674,  at  Lurgan.  His 
father  was  a  teacher  and  gave  him  a  good  education.    He 

114 


JAMES  LOGAN  115 

became  proficient  in  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin.  The  Irish 
fighting  which  was  terminated  by  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne 
sent  the  family  first  to  Scotland  and  then  to  Bristol,  Eng- 
land, where  he  carried  on  his  studies  in  mathematics  and 
modern  languages  and  assisted  his  father  in  teaching.  In 
1699  William  Penn,  who  had  many  acquaintances  in  Bristol 
where  his  second  wife  had  lived,  came  into  contact  with 
James  Logan  and  asked  him  to  go  with  him  as  secretary  of 
his  province.  They  reached  Philadelphia  early  in  Decem- 
ber. Logan  was  then  25  years  old,  one  of  the  few  highly 
educated  men  of  the  settlement. 

Thus  began  his  colonial  life.  As  secretary  and  agent  of 
the  Penn  family,  trustee  under  Penn's  will,  secretary  of  the 
Council,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Prov- 
ince, and  for  a  time  acting  Lieutenant-Governor,  he  was  for 
fifty  years  a  most  potential  influence,  perhaps  the  most  po- 
tential influence  for  this  half  century,  in  provincial  afifairs. 
It  is  often  said  and  with  a  large  element  of  truth  that  Penn 
was  weak  in  his  judgment  of  men.  But  he  made  no  mis- 
take in  this  instance.  Save  for  a  certain  pugnacity  which 
was  sometimes  tactless  and  made  him  enemies,  there  never 
was  a  more  faithful  and  intelligent  manager  of  another 
man's  affairs ;  and  this  refers  equally  to  Penn's  political  and 
his  financial  interests. 

He  came  into  his  Quaker  membership  by  birthright  rather 
than  by  conviction  and  while  in  the  main  loyal  to  the  So- 
ciety, refused  to  accept  in  full  all  its  usual  testimonies.  On 
his  first  voyage  from  England  his  boat  was  approached  by 
a  supposed  pirate  which  afterwards  proved  to  be  a  friend. 
Penn  and  the  Friends  held  a  meeting  in  the  cabin.  Logan 
assisted  the  sailors  on  deck  to  prepare  the  guns  for  de- 
fense. After  the  danger  was  over  Penn  reproved  him  for 
his  martial  activity.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  surprise  to 
him   that   Friends   disapproved   of   physical   weapons   for 


ii6     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

defense,  and  he  did  not  see  how  his  master  could  govern  a 
province  on  this  basis.  That  he  had  not  known  it  is  an 
indication  of  rather  a  lax  acquaintance  with  the  history  of 
the  Society. 

Shortly  after  he  came  to  Philadelphia  he  found  that  Dan- 
iel Cooper  from  New  Jersey  had  settled  upon  the  Reed 
Islands  in  the  Delaware  River  which  belonged  to  Penn. 
Logan  with  Edward  Shippen,  Jr.,  and  the  Sheriff  of  Phila- 
delphia went  out  armed  to  arrest  him.  No  blood  was  shed 
but  the  meeting  thought  it  necessary  to  set  the  matter 
straight  and  "  clear  the  Truth."  The  two  Friends  were  re- 
quired to  write  papers  of  apology  and  after  one  or  two  trials 
produced  such  as  were  satisfactory  to  the  meeting.  The 
charge  against  Logan  was  "  his  going  with  armed  men  or 
suffering  arms  to  go  in  company  with  him  in  a  hostile  man- 
ner when  he  ought  to  have  gone  in  a  peaceable  manner 
according  to  the  profession  he  makes."  Logan's  acknowl- 
edgment is  interesting: — 

"  Whereas  upon  a  provocation  given  by  Daniel  Cooper 
of  West  Jersey,  injuriously  (as  was  judged)  to  our  Pro- 
prietary's right  and  contrary  to  authority,  invading  in  the 
5th  mo.  last  one  of  the  Reed  islands  of  Delaware,  over 
against  this  city,  I  undertook  to  go  over  to  ye  said  island  to 
divert  him  from  proceeding  in  his  design,  accompanied  with 
the  Sheriff  of  Philada.  who  hearing  of  an  opposition  de- 
signed, took  with  him  some  other  persons  with  fire  arms  for 
ye  greater  awe  of  such  as  should  attempt  to  oppose.  And 
whereas  occasion  hath  been  or  may  be  taken  from  the  said 
arms  being  carried  in  my  company  to  reflect  not  only  upon 
me  as  concerned  for  the  Proprietary,  but  also  upon  the 
profession  of  Gods  Truth  owned  by  and  amongst  us,  I  do 
therefore  in  a  true  sense  of  the  inconveniences  that  have 
naturally  ensued  from  the  said  action  and  its  contrariety 
to  the  said  profession  heartily  regret  my  complying  with  or 
being  in  anywise  concerned  in  that  method  which  ministers 
such  occasion  and  do  in  sincerity  declare  that  could  I  have 
foreseen  the  ill  consequences  of  it  I  should  by  no  means 
have  engaged  in  it. 


JAMES  LOGAN  117 

"  Hoping  and  earnestly  desiring  that  it  may  please  God, 
the  Author  of  all  good  councill  and  direction  so  to  enlighten 
my  understanding  by  his  spirit  that  I  may  avoid  not  only 
all  such  occasions  but  all  others  that  by  being  contrary  to 
his  divine  will  may  minister  offence  for  the  future, 

James  Logan." 

Hardly  had  this  matter  been  settled  when  he  had  some 
difficulty  with  Thomas  Story  a  young  and  accomplished 
Quaker  minister.  Thomas  Story  made  some  unknown 
charge  against  James  Logan  "  both  upon  his  own  and 
Truths  account  "  and  they  mutually  agreed  to  leave  it  to 
the  determination  of  the  meeting,  giving  up  all  papers  in 
their  possession.  The  matter  was  somehow  amicably 
settled  and  the  meeting  decreed  that  all  these  papers  should 
be  burned  in  the  presence  of  the  two  men,  each  declaring 
that  no  others  existed.  This  was  done  and  no  one  will  ever 
know  the  cause  of  the  difficulty  from  the  meeting  records. 

Profane  history  however  tells  us  that  these  two  young 
men  were  suitors  for  the  hand  of  Anne  Shippen,  the  daughter 
of  the  mayor  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  Story  won  the  prize. 
That  Logan's  rivalry  caused  some  actions  of  which  the 
meeting  disapproved  is  not  an  impossible  suggestion.  The 
disappointment  seems  to  have  been  generally  known  and  to 
have  reached  Penn's  ears  in  England.  "  I  am  anxiously 
grieved  for  thy  unhappy  love,"  he  writes,  "  for  thy  sake 
and  my  own,  for  T.  S.  and  thy  discord  has  been  of  no  serv- 
ice here  any  more  than  there."  But  the  affair  was  settled. 
The  two  became  excellent  friends.  "  He  and  I  are  great 
friends,"  Logan  said  a  couple  of  years  later,  "  for  I  think 
the  whole  business  is  not  now  worth  a  quarrel."  In  later 
years  a  long  correspondence  of  considerable  interest,  which 
has  been  published,  was  kept  up  between  the  two  scholars 
relating  to  scientific  and  philosophical  matters. 

From  Isaac  Norris's  description  one  ought  to  find  it  diffi- 


ii8     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

cult  to  quarrel  with  Thomas  Story.  "  He  was  bred  a  law- 
yer but  laid  that  aside  for  the  gospel.  His  conversation  as 
a  man  was  sweet,  gentle,  and  extremely  affable;  his  spirit 
as  a  Christian  extraordinarily  humble ;  and  I  have  observed 
him  to  watch  even  against  his  own  abilities  lest  they  should 
appear  to  exalt  him  in  the  opinion  of  any." 

Other  cases  where  James  Logan  differed  from  the  Quaker 
authorities  will  be  mentioned  later.  But  the  relations  were 
always  sympathetic.  He  was  careful  to  emphasize  his 
membership  whenever  proper,  his  family  was  perhaps  more 
Friendly  than  he,  and  his  integrity  and  high  ideals  were 
never  questioned,  except  by  his  political  opponents  in  the 
heat  of  controversy.  He  however  never  took  prominent 
part  in  church  affairs,  held  few  official  positions,  and  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  frank  recognition  of  certain  differ- 
ences to  which  in  time  both  sides  adjusted  themselves. 

"  Traveling  Friends,"  he  writes  to  Penn,  "  will  give  no 
good  account  of  my  strictness.  I  am  willing  all  should 
know  that  I  neither  am  nor  ever  was  a  strict  professor  and 
I  will  make  my  outside  appearance  agree  with  what  I  really 
know  myself  to  be." 

When  Penn  left  him  in  1701  Logan  plunged  into  the  work 
with  his  characteristic  ardor  and  energy.  The  quit-rents 
had  to  be  collected  and  this  was  no  light  matter  from  a 
people,  comfortably  living  it  is  true,  but  with  but  little  ready 
money.  Individually  small  (one  shilling  per  hundred 
acres  or  thereabouts)  it  made  a  great  difference  to  William 
Penn  that  they  should  come  in  promptly  for  he  was  greatly 
out  of  funds  through  his  experiment.  The  rough  surveys 
had  to  be  revised  and  when  settlers  found  that  they  had 
more  or  less  land  than  they  supposed,  adjustments  had  to 
be  made.  Penn  had  been  rather  profuse  and  uneven  in  his 
promises,  titles  were  uncertain,  and  records  in  default.  The 
tangle  must  be  straightened  out.     Logan  had  a  clear  head 


JAMES  LOGAN  119 

and  absolute  fidelity,  but  his  manners  were  ungracious  and 
his  instructions,  which  he  could  not  well  disclose,  frequently 
hampered  his  free  action.  His  was  not  a  popular  part  but 
he  did  his  duty.  Penn's  best  friends  stood  by  him  but  the 
country  people  were  not  pleased  by  his  stringent  demands 
and  his  unsympathetic  attitude,  however  in  their  hearts 
they  might  recognize  the  general  justice  of  his  measures. 
Thus  he  alienated  support  and  his  future  battles  with  David 
Lloyd  were  made  more  difficult,  while  his  differences  with 
his  monthly  meeting  did  not  help  matters. 

Why  it  was  difficult  to  collect  the  quit-rents  and  other 
dues  manifestly  owing  to  Penn  is  told  by  James  Logan.  "No 
trade,"  he  writes,  "  no  money  coming  in,  nothing  to  pay  in 
but  wheat  and  no  sale  for  that."  And  again,  "  Were  the 
country  people  ever  so  willing  nay  were  it  to  redeem  their 
lives  they  cannot  now  raise  money."  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  only  remedy  was  distraint.  The  difiiculties  of 
collection  were  so  great  and  the  feeling  for  the  farmers  so 
strong  that  men  could  not  be  found  to  apply  the  law. 

He  writes  again,  "  The  people  will  not  pay  without  dis- 
tress (distraint) .  Friends  are  willing  to  pay  but  not  to  bear 
all  the  burden  themselves,  while  others  obstinately  save 
their  money,  and  none  can  be  prevailed  upon  without  much 
reluctancy  and  compulsion  to  do  that  unkind  office  to  their 
neighbors."  Later  the  meetings  set  their  machinery  to 
work  and  insisted  that  the  members  should  pay  their  just 
dues.  But  the  difficulty,  until  paper  money  was  issued 
some  40  years  after  the  founding,  consisted  in  the  fact  that 
the  province  was  drained  of  money  to  pay  for  importations 
which  the  developing  country  must  have.  Logan  writes 
again  in  1705:  "We  have  now  tis  true  nor  money  nor 
credit,  yet  we  live  quiet  and  easy  and  want  nothing,"  and 
Penn  responds  "  I  am  glad  of  thy  opinion  of  the  people  that 
it  arises  from  want  and  not  disaffection  that  they  have  not 
paid." 


120     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

The  ownership  of  William  Penn  and  heirs  was  of  three 
sorts.  (1)  The  common  land  sold  at  uniform  prices,  at  the 
start  about  £5  per  100  acres,  to  all  satisfactory  purchasers, 
who  were  also  to  pay  a  quit-rent^  of  one  shilling  per  100 
acres  per  year.  (2)  The  manors  belonging  to  the  proprietors 
jointly,  usually  the  best  10,000  contiguous  acres  out  of  every 
100,000  acres  sold.  (3)  Land  owned  by  individual  proprie- 
tors bought  as  any  one  else  would.  There  was  a  condition 
that  the  first  purchasers  of  5000  acres,  for  which  the  price 
was  fixed  at  £100,  should  have  a  town  lot  of  liberal  dimen- 
sions within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  or  its 
"  liberties,"  and  this  provision  was  extended  pro  rata  to 
certain  small  purchasers.  Land  could  be  rented  at  a  quit- 
rent  of  one  penny  per  acre.  Masters  might  have  50  acres 
for  each  servant  brought  over  and  servants  themselves  also 
50  acres  each  when  the  time  of  service  was  ended. 

With  this  complicated  system  and -the  crude  opportuni- 
ties for  keeping  records  it  may  be  seen  that  the  land  office 
was  for  50  years  a  scene  of  confusion  and  strife. 

There  were  also  difficulties  in  carrying  out  Penn's  policy 
with  the  Indians.  He  had  given  instructions  that  strict 
honesty  was  to  be  used  in  buying  lands  of  them  and  that 
purchase  should  precede  settlement.  But  settlers  pushed 
themselves  into  unoccupied  lands  without  recognition  either 
of  Proprietor  or  Indian  rights.  In  1726  it  was  estimated 
that  there  were  many  thousand  settlers,  mostly  Germans 
and  Scotch-Irish,  on  land  to  which  they  had  no  legal  right. 
This  was  a  source  of  continuous  trouble  with  the  Indians 
which  nothing  but  a  general  respect  for  "  Onas  "  enabled 
Logan  to  keep  in  check. 

1  This  name  originated  because  the  renter  was  thereby  "quit  and 
free"  from  all  other  feudal  services.  According  to  English  law 
something  of  the  sort  seemed  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the 
title. 


JAMES  LOGAN  121 

In  1682,  before  Penn  landed,  his  agent  and  cousin,  Wil- 
liam Markham,  had  bought  of  the  Indians  the  land  between 
the  Neshaminy  Creek  and  the  Delaware  River.  Within  a 
few  years  by  several  purchases,  from  various  Indian  chiefs, 
several  of  them  covering  the  same  districts,  titles  to  all  of 
south-eastern  Pennsylvania,  as  far  back  into  the  country 
as  a  man  could  travel  with  a  horse  in  a  two  days  journey, 
were  secured.  In  1694  Penn  bought  of  the  Five  Nations 
the  whole  course  of  the  Susquehanna  through  the  province 
and  confirmed  it  later  by  buying  again  of  other  tribes  who 
objected  to  the  claims  of  the  Five  Nations.  So  the  various 
Indian  titles,  some  very  shadowy,  were  bought  out.  At- 
tempts were  made  to  dispossess  settlers  who  passed  over 
the  legal  boundaries.  They  were  removed  and  their  build- 
ings burned.  But  they  went  in  again  as  soon  as  the  force 
withdrew. 

Some  of  these  troubles  were  at  the  time  which  we  are  con- 
sidering still  in  the  foreground  but  James  Logan  was  enter- 
ing on  a  task  which  was  of  immense  service  to  the  young 
province.  His  boundless  hospitality  to  Indian  chiefs,  his 
sympathy  for  the  Penn  policy  and  ability  in  making  it 
effective  saved  many  a  day  of  serious  discord.  For  50 
years  he  conducted  the  most* of  the  transactions  with  the 
red  men  with  great  success. 

But  if  the  land  and  Indian  questions  were  troublesome  for 
the  young  secretary,  the  political  issue  was  even  more  im- 
portunate. The  Deputy  Governor  selected  by  Penn  did 
not  live  long  and  a  young  man  of  Logan's  age,  John  Evans, 
was  in  1704  selected  as  his  successor.  This  proved  a  most 
unfortunate  choice  for  all  parties.  He  was  not  wise  in  his 
methods,  had  no  sympathy  with  Friends  and  his  life  did  not 
commend  him  to  their  favorable  notice.  With  him  came 
the  oldest  son  of  the  proprietor  by  his  first  wife,  William 
Penn,  Jr.     He  had  been  something  of  a  libertine  but  his 


122     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

father  hoped  that  the  influence  of  Logan  aided  by  solid 
Friends  like  Samuel  Carpenter  and  Isaac  Norris  would  save 
him.  Logan  did  his  best,  and  for  a  time  the  experiment 
seemed  likely  to  succeed.  He  was  encouraged  to  find  his 
pleasure  in  the  woods  and  waters,  teeming  with  game  and 
fish,  and  to  become  interested  in  the  political  problems  of 
the  province  of  which  he  would  probably  be  the  proprietor. 
But  Evans'  influence  was  not  good  and  after  a  drunken  riot 
in  the  streets,  the  two  were  arrested  at  night  for  disorderly 
conduct.  The  legal  question  was  soon  patched  up  but  the 
matter  caused  great  heart-burnings  both  in  England  and 
Pennsylvania  and  was  not  without  its  political  significance. 
The  young  heir  shook  the  dust  both  of  the  province  and 
the  church  ofif  his  feet  and  neither  knew  him  again. 

Had  Governor  Evans  behaved  himself  Logan  would 
have  had  but  little  trouble  in  maintaining  the  interests  of 
the  Proprietor.  But  there  followed  a  series  of  unwise  and 
provoking  actions  which  quite  unsettled  the  influence  of  the 
Secretary.  David  Lloyd  was  busily  engaged  in  pressing 
the  claims  of  the  legislature  to  adjourn  at  its  will  and  to 
be  independent  of  executive  control.  He  did  this  by  vir- 
tue of  his  superior  finesse  and  knowledge  and  by  his  staunch 
support  of  the  Friendly  position  against  war  and  oaths. 
Logan  was  quite  his  equal  in  ability  but  was  known  not  to 
be  so  radical  in  his  moral  positions.  Besides  as  the  faithful 
guardian  of  the  Penn  interests  he  thought  it  necessary  to 
support  the  governor. 

The  Remonstrance  of  1704  ^  brought  the  smouldering 
controversy  to  a  head  and  was  the  center  about  which  the 
storm  raged  for  a  number  of  years.  Neither  leader  hes- 
itated to  say  hard  words  of  the  other.  "  That  lurking  snake, 
David  Lloyd"  is  the  eulogy  sent  to  England  by  Logan. 
"  The  malignity  and  falsehood  of  James  Logan  "  is  Lloyd's 
^  See  David  Lloyd,  p.  94. 


JAMES  LOGAN  123 

reference  to  his  adversary.  If  the  body  of  Friends  of  the 
time  possessed  the  spirit  of  these  leaders  it  would  have  to 
be  admitted  that  the  softening  influence  of  their  religion 
was  not  much  in  evidence.  But  while  dealing  with  matters 
of  consequence  it  was  largely  a  politicians'  fight.  The  body 
of  Friends  seemed  to  be  interested  spectators  ready  to  turn 
the  scale  in  favor  of  one  side  or  the  other  as  errors  of 
''  falsehood  or  malignity  "  withdrew  their  sympathy.  Back 
of  it  was  an  undeniable  love  and  respect  for  the  absent  Pro- 
prietor now  in  the  depth  of  his  financial  difficulties,  and, 
less  to  be  commended,  but  only  natural,  a  hope  to  improve 
their  material  conditions.  Whether  they  very  intelligently 
cared  for  the  political  and  civil  liberties  which  Lloyd  so 
strenuously  urged  is  more  doubtful.  If  so  it  was  largely  due 
to  his  persistent  advocacy,  which,  whatever  the  motive, 
made  the  province  "  safe  for  democracy." 

Logan  and  his  friends  triumphed  in  the  election  of  1705 
when  a  wave  of  loyalty  for  Penn  swept  the  province.  This 
unfortunately  had  the  effect  of  increasing  the  presumption 
of  the  Governor.  An  elderly  and  injudicious  Assemblyman, 
William  Biles,  sympathetic  with  the  popular  party,  had 
made  some  indefinite  threat  outside  the  house  that  Evans 
was  but  a  boy  and  "  we  will  kick  him  out."  For  this  the 
Governor  had  him  arrested  and  put  in  prison  and  asked  the 
house  to  expel  him,  which  of  course  it  refused  to  do,  and 
asserted  that  its  privileges  had  been  violated  by  his 
arrest.  However  this  did  not  seriously  abate  the  strength 
of  the  Logan  party  which  again  carried  the  election  of  1706, 
electing  Joseph  Growdon  as  Speaker  and  passing  much 
wholesome  legislation  without  bickering. 

Again  Evans  was  his  own  worst  enemy.  Truly  appre- 
hensive that  an  attack  by  sea  from  the  French  fleet  was 
imminent  he  attempted  to  induce  the  Assembly  to  appropri- 
ate money  to  place  the  province  in  a  state  of  defense.    But 


124     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

the  Assembly,  practically  all  Friends,  would  do  nothing. 
He  thought  that  their  principles  would  fade  away  before  a 
near  danger  and  adopted  a  ruse  to  discredit  them.  On  the 
day  of  the  annual  fair  when  the  city  was  unusually  full  of 
people  he  had  an  accomplice  send  word  from  New  Castle 
that  the  enemy's  ships  were  in  the  river.  Then  mounting 
his  horse  with  a  drawn  sword  he  rode  through  the  streets 
asking  the  people  to  arm.  The  city  was  duly  alarmed. 
There  was  a  great  exodus  of  small  craft  to  the  creeks,  plate 
was  buried,  and  some  families  hid  themselves.  The  Friends 
instead  of  arming  as  Evans  had  intended  went  to  their  reg- 
ular midweek  meeting  and  sat  in  quiet  through  the  disturb- 
ance. They  had  not  compromised  themselves  and  when 
later  in  the  day  the  real  facts  developed  the  Governor  was 
placed  in  an  unexcusable  situation  much  shorn  of  influence. 

The  next  Assembly  as  the  result  of  this  farce  went  over 
to  the  opposition  and  Lloyd  was  again  in  power.  James 
Logan  was  charged  with  being  an  accomplice  in  the  plot  by 
placing  a  French  flag  on  a  sloop  which  would  have  told  the 
truth  about  the  matter  and  sending  signals  to  the  Governor. 
This  he  denies  in  a  letter  to  Penn  and  his  general  good 
sense  and  knowledge  of  Friends  would  seem  to  support  the 
denial.  His  object  he  says  in  going  down  the  river  was  to 
ascertain  the  truth,  and  abate  the  panic.  He  writes  Penn 
"  The  entire  body  (of  Friends)  seems  disgusted  and  piqued 
to  the  heart  at  the  contrivances  of  that  alarm  which  they 
think  served  only  to  expose  them  to  their  enemies  here." 

Then  Evans  tried  another  plan  equally  unfortunate  for 
his  popularity  and  this  time  directed  mainly  against  his  own 
adherents.  He  built  a  fort  at  New  Castle  and  levied  trib- 
ute in  the  shape  of  powder  on  all  vessels  entering  or  leaving 
Philadelphia.  The  restriction  on  trade  was  probably  illegal 
and  certainly  unpopular,  and  Richard  Hill,  an  old  sea  cap- 
tain and  now  a  prominent  citizen,  with  two  other  Quaker 


JAMES  LOGAN  125 

merchants,  undertook  to  sail  his  own  vessel  past  the  fort 
and  test  the  right  of  the  Governor  to  collect  the  tax.  They 
stopped  at  the  fort,  informing  the  commander  that  their 
vessel  was  regularly  cleared,  and  demanding  that  they 
should  be  allowed  to  pass.  This  was  denied  and  Richard 
Hill  himself  took  the  helm  and  sailed  by  the  fort,  receiving 
a  shot  through  the  mainsail.  The  commander  followed  in 
an  armed  boat  as  did  also  Evans  himself  in  another.  The 
boat  of  the  former  was  turned  adrift  and  he  himself  kept  a 
prisoner  in  the  cabin.  Landing  at  Salem  they  found  Lord 
Cornbury,  the  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  to  whom  the  exac- 
tion was  equally  distasteful.  The  prisoner  was  reprimanded 
and  released  and  this  ended  the  "  powder  money  "  exaction 
on  the  Delaware. 

But  Evans  was  hopelessly  discredited  in  the  minds  of  the 
Pennsylvanians,  and  Logan,  who  had  stood  by  him  as  far  as 
he  could,  as  the  representative  of  the  Penn  interests,  shared 
his  unpopularity.  The  Assemblies  of  1707-8-9  were  bitterly 
opposed  to  the  Executive  and  to  James  Logan  as  its  brains 
and  motive  power. 

That  official  now  came  into  the  clutch  of  impeachment 
proceedings.  The  Assembly  was  greatly  incensed  at  the 
Governor  and  with  some  truth  identified  Logan  with  his 
actions.  The  secretary  had  also  become  generally  unpopu- 
lar by  his  rigidity  in  collecting  quit-rents  and  other  of  the 
dues  of  Penn.  Moreover  he  could  possibly  be  reached  by 
legal  proceedings  while  Evans  could  not.  So  they  pre- 
sented thirteen  articles  of  impeachment  against  him  relat- 
ing to  alleged  misdeeds.  They  stated  that  he  had  illegally 
violated  the  constitution  of  1701  by  inserting  in  the  Gov- 
ernor's commission  a  power  to  convene  or  dissolve  the 
Assembly;  that  he  had  usurped  certain  powers  in  relation 
to  surveying  lands  and  reserving  quit-rents;  that  he  had 
prevented  certain  acts  of  assembly  from  being  published 


126     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  that  he  had  persuaded  officials  to  accept  their  commis- 
sions from  the  Governor  instead  of  by  election  of  the  people. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  Logan  was  technically  guilty 
of  some  of  these  charges.  He  had  in  defense  of  the  rights  of 
the  Proprietor  and  with  an  exalted  sense  of  his  own  im- 
portance combined  with  a  dislike  amounting  at  times  al- 
most to  contempt  for  Lloyd  and  the  popular  party,  assumed 
powers  which  were  legally  indefensible. 

The  Governor  stood  by  him  and  refused  to  entertain  the 
charges  on  the  ground  that  neither  he  nor  the  Council  had 
power  to  try  impeachments.  Logan  himself  while  pro- 
fessing a  desire  to  have  the  case  tried  was  unwilling  to  pro- 
ceed until  the  proofs  were  published.  There  was  much  legal 
fencing  on  both  sides  which  embittered  the  controversy,  and 
the  Assembly  finally  concluded  to  appeal  directly  to  Wil- 
liam Penn  of  England  with  their  complaints  against  his 
own  neglect  of  their  interests. 

This  remonstrance  was  more  moderate  than  that  of  1704 
but  reiterated  the  old  charges.  The  Friends  had  not  been 
relieved  in  the  matter  of  oaths  and  hence  were  deprived  of 
certain  official  positions;  the  Maryland  boundary  had  not 
been  settled;  the  royal  sanction  had  not  been  secured  for 
certain  laws ;  the  Deputy-Governor  had  attempted  to  estab- 
lish a  judiciary  on  his  own  authority;  had  refused  to  try 
Logan;  had  formed  a  militia,  exacted  "  powder  money,"  had 
been  engaged  in  disorderly  brawls  in  the  city  and  in  immor- 
alities in  Indian  villages.  The  charges  against  Logan  were 
repeated. 

The  people  endorsed  the  Assembly  electing  practically  the 
same  members  for  1709  and  the  impeachment  proceedings 
were  not  allowed  to  drop.  It  is  probably  true  that  the 
Assembly  was  now  composed  of  a  weak  set  of  men.  The 
nerve  was  taken  from  Penn's  friends  by  the  exploits  of  Ev- 
ans and  they  withdrew  from  the  contest.    This  left  the  field 


JAMES  LOGAN  127 

to  Lloyd's  followers  and  he  wanted  such  as  he  could  manage. 
Logan,  it  is  quite  likely,  made  the  most  of  their  weaknesses 
when  he  wrote  "  In  the  worst  of  our  former  Assemblies  we 
had  seven  or  eight  honest  men  of  good  sense.  ...  In  the 
present  we  have  not  one  left,"  and  again  "  The  last  Assem- 
bly were  all  Friends  in  unity  except  [two].  But  these  pres- 
ent Gallimaco  Fry  (such  a  mixture  as  were  never  here  in  the 
assembly  before)  are  the  men  it  seems  that  are  to  manage 
in  the  name  and  for  the  interest  of  Friends  when  in  reality 
they  are  neither  of  them  or  the  church,  but  the  leaders  of 
them  are  made  up  of  that  bitter  spirit  raised  by  the  foam 
scattered  by  George  Keith  at  the  time  of  the  Separation." 
The  Keith  body  had  disintegrated  by  this  time,  but  there 
are  several  evidences  that  the  personal  bitterness  in  many 
cases  had  not  passed  away.  At  any  rate  the  Assembly  fol- 
lowed Lloyd  most  loyally  in  his  moves  against  the  propri- 
etor and  his  secretary. 

The  best  friends  of  the  province  were  in  despair.  In  this 
vein  Isaac  Norris  who  was  now  in  England  writes  to  James 
Logan:  "  Serious  and  sorrowful  reflections  upon  the  present 
state  of  poor  Pa.  have  presented  themselves  and  they  give 
a  melancholy  and  discouraging  prospect.  The  ingratitude 
of  the  Lieut.  Gov.  to  his  friends  that  had  staged  themselves 
to  serve  him,  the  disposition  and  thwarting  designs  of 
others,  the  heightening  of  parties,  the  decay  of  trade,  the 
discredit  the  country  has  here,  the  proprietor's  hard  circum- 
stances with  Ford  and  his  other  involvings,  his  placing  all 
upon  that  country,  and  expectation  of  more  from  it  than  it 
is  able  or  willing  to  do  with  other  contingencies  and  the 
confusions  in  view  make  me  almost  wish  I  had  no  obliga- 
tions there." 

Added  to  this  there  was  a  most  urgent  insistence  on  the 
part  of  the  non-Friends  on  some  adequate  means  of  defense. 
A  French  privateer  landed  some  sixty  men  at  Hoarkill 


128     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

(Lewes)  and  plundered  it,  carrying  some  citizens  away  for 
ransom.  It  was  possible  that  the  same  might  happen  at 
Philadelphia  and  there  was  a  clamorous  demand  as  Logan 
writes  against  "  the  absurdity  of  pretending  to  govern 
without  applying  force  in  the  greater  as  well  as  the  least 
degree,"  that  is  in  general  armed  defense  as  well  as  against 
a  robber.  But  nothing  was  done  and  the  province  was  not 
disturbed  by  privateers.  Serious  remonstrances  were  how- 
ever sent  to  England  that  the  Quakers  were  unfit  to  manage 
a  government.  The  trouble  became  intense  and  Isaac 
Norris  wonders  "  whether  it  were  the  worse  prospect  to 
hold  it  (the  government)  under  such  difficulties  or  resign  it 
to  men  who  have  no  honorable  principles." 

Yet  after  all  the  people  lived  in  peace.  Again  Logan 
writes  "  In  this  country  we  have  no  such  settled  estates  and 
constant  incomes;  yet  want  not  the  blessings  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life;  very  few  things  wanting  except  some  luxu- 
ries. As  for  myself  I  bless  the  Almighty  I  want  nothing  of 
the  useful  conveniences  but  live  equal  with  my  neighbors 
and  desire  not  an  abundance." 

William  Penn  was  now  in  the  thick  of  his  controversy 
with  the  Fords  and  part  of  the  time  was  lying  in  a  debtors' 
prison  in  England.  The  troubles  in  his  colony  preyed  upon 
him  and  he  was  told  very  plainly  that  peace  could  only  be 
secured  by  the  discharge  of  Evans.  Isaac  Norris  who  was 
in  England  aiding  him  in  settling  affairs  with  his  creditors 
urged  the  same,  and  Penn  was  finally  freed  by  a  compromise 
on  the  debts  and  the  promise  to  appoint  a  new  governor. 
The  province  was  mortgaged  for  the  debt  to  a  number  of  his 
friends  to  be  repaid  out  of  the  quit-rents,  sale  of  lands  and 
other  receipts  of  the  province,  and  Edward  Shippen,  Samuel 
Carpenter,  Richard  Hill  and  James  Logan  were  made  com- 
missioners to  perform  the  active  duties  under  the  trust.  As 
secretary  this  all  went  through  the  hands  of  James  Logan. 


JAMES  LOGAN  129 

The  new  Deputy-Governor,  Colonel  Charles  Gookin, 
reached  Philadelphia  in  March  1710.  He  found  in  session 
the  same  hostile  assembly  that  had  impeached  Logan  and 
remonstrated  to  Perm.  They  showed  no  signs  of  any  miti- 
gation of  their  bitterness  and  immediately  began  to  com- 
plain of  the  actions  of  the  new  official.  Some  of  these  com- 
plaints were  trivial  but  they  found  a  real  difference  in  the 
frequently  recurring  question  of  military  defense.  The 
house  refused  absolutely  to  endorse  the  request  to  furnish 
150  men  to  join  in  an  attack  on  Canada  or  to  provide  any 
funds  for  the  purpose.  They  found  that  the  governor  had 
been  instructed  by  Penn  to  refuse  to  pass  any  law  not  ap- 
proved by  the  Council.  But  that  body  was  simply  an 
advisory  body  for  the  governor,  not  recognized  by  the 
charter.  This  recognition  by  Penn  seemed  to  give  it  some 
governmental  power  and  the  house  resented  the  implication, 
the  more  so  that  Logan's  influence  there  was  predominant. 
On  the  whole  the  Governor,  who  was  rather  testy  in  dispo- 
sition, behaved  himself  at  first  with  judgment  and  moder- 
ation. 

Logan  now  decided  that  the  time  had  come  to  strike  back 
at  Lloyd  in  counter  charges.  But  here  again  some  political 
fencing  prevented  any  open  trial  and  the  exact  nature  of  the 
charges  does  not  appear,  but  the  house,  loyal  to  its  Speaker, 
pronounced  them  false.  Logan  then  sent  back  a  defiant 
message  to  the  Assembly  which  greatly  increased  their  re- 
sentment, and  they  directed  that  he  should  be  sent  to  prison. 
Their  right  to  take  this  extreme  measure  was  denied  by  the 
Governor.  Logan  was  now  about  ready  to  carry  his  case  to 
England  and  after  some  attempt  to  delay  his  passage,  he  got 
away  and  in  due  time  was  presenting  the  whole  matter  to 
the  Proprietor  in  person. 

William  Penn  never  seems  to  have  lost  faith  in  his  sec- 
retary as  the  letters  between  them,  saved  through  the  care 


I30     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  labor  of  Deborah  Norris  Logan,  abundantly  show. 
These  letters  betray  the  zeal  and  fidelity  for  his  employer's 
interests  which  characterized  the  secretary,  as  well  as  the 
censorious  spirit  toward  opponents  which  he  was  continually 
pouring  into  Penn's  mind.  He  said  what  he  thought  and  his 
views  changed  with  the  years.  It  is  unsafe  to  form  historic 
judgments  on  the  basis  alone  of  certain  of  his  statements, 
but  the  whole  series,  combined  with  the  ofiicial  records  of 
the  Council  and  Assembly,  afford  a  ground-work  for  a  fairly 
accurate  decision  as  to  the  quality  of  the  government  of  the 
Quaker  province  through  this  first  decade  of  the  18th  cen- 
tury. 

As  a  whole  one  cannot  derive  much  satisfaction  from  the 
record.  There  was  too  much  partisanship,  too  much  self- 
ishness, too  much  ascription  of  personal  motives,  among 
Friends  to  answer  the  ends  of  Christian  courtesy  or  good 
government  in  its  best  estate. 

The  Friends  that  rallied  around  James  Logan  felt  keenly 
the  difiiculties  of  the  Proprietor  who  had  sacrificed  so  much 
of  time,  comfort,  and  money  in  his  effort  to  found  a  com- 
monwealth on  the  basis  of  principle,  and  who,  they  knew, 
could  have  sold  out  to  the  Crown  at  a  great  relief  to  himself 
had  he  been  willing  that  his  colonists  should  lose  something 
of  the  liberties  they  had  received  by  the  migration.  While 
he  was  sacrificing  for  the  settlers,  they  seemed  disposed  to 
deprive  him  of  his  just  dues  in  quit-rents  and  other  income 
needed  for  the  government.  On  the  other  hand  he  could 
hardly  divest  himself  of  a  certain  feeling  of  class  distinction. 
His  ideal,  however  much  he  might  keep  it  down,  was  a  feudal 
lord,  an  absentee  landlord,  dispensing  with  a  generous  hand 
the  blessings  of  liberty  and  happiness  to  willing  and  loyal 
citizens.  Add  to  this  the  great  dissatisfaction  with  the  per- 
sonal and  political  conduct  of  Deputy-Governor  Evans,  and 
the  rather  haughty  and  testy  spirit  of  Logan,  devoted  to  his 


JAMES  LOGAN  131 

duty,  and,  fearless  of  opposition  as  he  was,  and  the  friends 
of  Penn  were  kept  the  most  of  the  time  in  a  constant  posture 
of  defense. 

On  the  other  hand  the  country  people  who  were  led  by 
David  Lloyd  had  back  of  them  the  instinct  for  liberty  and 
equality,  the  inheritance  of  the  English  race,  just  strength- 
ened by  the  Puritan  spirit  and  the  politics  of  the  Common- 
wealth period.  They  had  a  smaller  vision  than  the  pro- 
prietor's party,  and  hence  were  led  into  the  more  obvious 
courses  based  on  present  needs  which  the  methods  of  their 
leader  used  to  the  utmost.  That  able  lawyer,  faithful  to 
the  patent  implications  of  Quakerism,  but,  at  least  during 
this  decade,  hardly  possessed  by  its  spirit,  played  with  the 
prejudices  and  material  interests  of  the  country  population 
at  his  will.  They  wanted  to  live  consistently  their  lives  of 
opposition  to  war  and  oaths,  of  strict  morality  and  quiet 
attention  to  their  farms  and  meetings.  They  had  a  dim  in- 
stinct of  opposition  to  the  city  men  of  growing  fortunes,  a 
very  strong  protest  against  immorality  in  high  places.  They 
did  not  mean  to  be  disloyal  to  Penn  as  their  conduct  in 
1705  made  manifest.  Had  he  been  with  them  or  sent  an 
acceptable  deputy  they  would  have  worked  out  their  prob- 
lems without  great  friction,  but  they  become  suspicious, 
narrow  and  partisan,  and  David  Lloyd  who  knew  the  value 
of  civil  liberty  and  honestly  wanted  it,  had  an  easy  task 
in  marshalling  the  country  hosts,  sometimes  by  methods 
which  cannot  be  fully  defended,  into  lines  which  as  reported 
by  Logan  gave  deep  offense  and  disappointment  to  the 
great-hearted  Proprietor. 

It  must  be  remembered  however  that  the  conflicts  were 
conflicts  of  leaders.  The  great  bulk  of  the  people  carried 
on  their  work  on  farm  or  shop,  grateful  for  the  liberties 
they  enjoyed,  with  none  of  the  bitterness  of  Logan  and 
Lloyd.    These  divisions  never  showed  themselves  in  the 


132     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

records  of  their  meetings.  At  one  time  Logan  seemed  to 
think  an  ecclesiastical  separation  partly  based  on  politics 
probable,  but  it  never  came.  The  quiet  of  worship  and  the 
real  goodness  which  pervaded  the  rank  and  file  of  the  mem- 
bership kept  down  partisanship  and  allayed  acrid  feelings. 
The  writings  of  traveling  ministers  and  the  good  advice  of 
the  Yearly  Meetings  indicate  the  best  of  feeling  and  the 
successful  pursuance  of  the  church  objects. 

The  troubles  of  the  Friends  as  the  result  of  their  scruples 
were  bringing  many  of  them  to  the  point  where  they  were 
beginning  to  doubt  whether  they  ought  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  government,  —  a  doubt  which  the  success  of  the 
following  thirty  years  largely  dissipated.  We  find  Isaac 
Norris  in  a  letter  to  William  Penn  writing:  "  We  say  our 
principles  are  not  destructive  or  repugnant  to  civil  govern- 
ment and  will  admit  freedom  of  conscience  for  all,  yet  it 
appears  to  me  according  to  the  best  scheme  I  can  form  from 
the  opinions  of  many  Friends,  that  to  be  concerned  in  gov- 
ernment and  to  hold  (maintain)  ourselves,  we  must  either 
be  independent  or  entirely  by  ourselves  .  .  .  and  not  allow 
the  liberty  of  others  who  make  conscience  to  have  an  oath ; 
...  or  be  as  thou  used  to  express  it, '  Dissenters  in  our  own 
country.'  " 

The  problem  of  liberty  of  conscience  was  being  worked 
out  and,  amid  the  confusion  of  party  rancor,  people  were 
thinking  with  fearful  hearts  that  the  William  Penn  ideals 
might  not  be  possible  of  achievement.  The  political  up- 
heaval of  the  next  year  settled  some  of  these  questions  at 
least  temporarily. 

"  Thou  used  to  talk  about  astral  influences.  I  am  not 
very  superstitious  though  I  cannot  but  take  notice  how  uni- 
versally and  resolutely  Friends  here  were  spirited  about  this 
election,"  Isaac  Norris  writes  to  James  Logan  still  in  Eng- 
land after  the  election  for  the  Assembly  which  occurred  in 


JAMES   LOGAN  133 

October,  1710.  As  soon  as  they  saw  that  Evans  was  dis- 
missed and  had  heard  from  England  of  the  condition  of  the 
Proprietor  the  province  as  one  man  returned  to  its  alle- 
giance. An  absolutely  new  Assembly  was  elected.  Lloyd 
himself  was  defeated.  The  strongest  men  in  the  province 
and  the  best  friends  of  Penn  and  Logan  were  returned. 
Richard  Hill  became  speaker  and  abundance  of  good  legis- 
lation was  passed.  Compromises  were  made  on  both  sides. 
The  right  to  adjourn  at  pleasure  for  which  Lloyd  had  fought 
so  vigorously  was  accorded,  and  the  judiciary  was  estab- 
lished by  law.  Both  impeachments  were  dropped  and 
heard  of  no  more.  Supplies  were  voted  liberally  for  the 
support  of  the  government  and  £2000  for  "  the  Queen's  use  " 
without  conditions.  The  real  blessings  of  the  free  institu- 
tions of  Penn  were  abundantly  recognized,  and  every  effort 
was  made  to  bring  up  to  date  legislation  which  had  been 
postponed  by  the  political  turmoil  of  the  preceding  three 
years.  The  province  steadied  itself  in  the  face  of  its  prob- 
lems and  privileges  and  set  itself  to  work  out  its  destiny 
with  cheerful  and  united  effort. 

In  the  midst  of  this  wave  of  unity  Logan  returned  from 
England  vindicated  as  far  as  conditions  there  would  allow, 
and  with  no  loss  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  his  employer 
and  his  friends.  Moreover  he  brought  with  him  a  pathetic 
appeal  from  William  Penn,  then  in  his  70th  year,  which  he 
may  have  helped  to  frame,  and  to  which  his  knowledge  of 
the  situation  had  undoubtedly  contributed.  The  compo- 
sition was  however  that  of  Penn  and  not  of  Logan.  It  did 
not  reach  the  province  till  after  the  election  but  had  a  pro- 
found effect  in  stimulating  the  returning  loyalty  to  the  Pro- 
prietor.    It  begins: 

"  My  old  Friends  —  It  is  a  mournful  consideration  and 
the  cause  of  deep  aflBiction  to  me  that  I  am  forced  by  the 
oppressions  and  disappointments  which  have  fallen  to  my 


134     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

share  in  this  life  to  speak  to  the  people  of  that  Province  in 
language  I  once  hoped  I  should  never  have  occasion  to  use. 
But  the  many  troubles  and  oppositions  I  met  with  from 
thence  oblige  me  in  plainness  and  freedom  to  expostulate 
with  you  concerning  the  causes  of  them." 

Then  he  reviews  the  liberal  principles  by  which  he  has 
been  guided,  his  personal  work  for  the  province  and  his 
financial  losses  and  contrasts  these  with  the  contentions  and 
ingratitude  of  the  settlers.  He  takes  up  both  the  political 
and  personal  questions  which  had  separated  them.  Some 
are  small  and  can  be  readily  rectified.  "  It  is  a  certain  sign 
you  are  strangers  to  oppression  and  know  nothing  but  the 
name,  that  you  so  lightly  bestow  it  on  matters  so  incon- 
siderable." There  are  other  lawyers  except  the  one  by 
whom  they  have  been  guided  almost  exclusively  "  whom  I 
cannot  think  so  very  proper  to  direct  in  my  affairs,"  was 
his  suggestion  as  to  David  Lloyd.  Nevertheless,  small  or 
great,  he  is  very  willing  to  adjust  them  to  suit  their  con- 
venience so  far  as  is  consistent  with  a  fair  balance  of  gov- 
ernmental powers.  He  defends  Logan.  "  From  all  the 
charges  I  have  seen  or  heard  of  against  him  I  have  cause  to 
believe  that  had  he  been  as  much  in  opposition  to  me  as  he 
has  been  understood  to  stand  for  me  he  might  have  met  with 
a  milder  treatment  from  his  persecutors;  and  to  think  that 
any  man  should  be  more  exposed  there  on  my  account  and 
instead  of  finding  favour,  meet  with  enmity  for  his  being 
engaged  in  my  service  is  a  melancholy  consideration."  Thus 
identified  with  the  Proprietor  and  amply  vindicated  the 
secretary  could  afford  to  return  in  triumph  to  the  province. 
Finally  Penn  intimates  that  the  conduct  of  the  Assembly 
might  determine  whether  or  not  he  should  sell  his  interests 
to  the  Crown. 

This  letter  was  read  in  all  the  meetings  of  Friends  and 
was  responded  to  with  an  outburst  of  respect  and  affection. 


I 


JAMES   LOGAN  135 

"  Sure  an  overruling  hand  directed  that  our  thoughts  and 
actions  here  should  be  answerable  to  thine  there  "  writes 
Isaac  Norris. 

Both  Penn's  political  and  financial  troubles  were  now 
somewhat  alleviated  but  enough  remained  to  make  his  re- 
tention of  the  proprietorship  a  matter  of  serious  misgiving. 
He  could  sell  his  rights  as  governor  to  the  Crown,  retaining 
his  individual  property  and  claims.  His  situation  would 
then  become  easy  and  his  family  amply  provided  for.  Lo- 
gan advised  this  strongly.  While  Gookin  meant  well  his 
tactless  and  unwise  assertion  of  power  still  made  trouble 
and  there  seemed  no  end  of  such  little  difficulties.  Penn's 
only  hesitation  came  from  the  fear  that  his  settlers  would 
suffer  in  their  maintenance  of  their  principles  from  the  de- 
mands of  the  English  government.  War,  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  oaths,  and  the  treatment  of  the  red  men  were  very 
vital  problems  in  the  new  experiment  and  such  arrange- 
ments must  be  made  as  would  secure  the  colonists  against 
any  return  of  English  persecution,  against  making  the 
Quakers  "  dissenters  in  their  own  country."  Penn  seems  to 
have  thought  that  this  was  accomplished.  The  transfer 
was  arranged  and  something  paid  by  the  government  in 
advance,  when  on  the  4th  of  8th  Month  (October)  1712  his 
hand  became  paralyzed  in  the  midst  of  a  letter  to  Logan. 
Some  months  later  his  wife  forwarded  the  incomplete 
epistle  to  the  secretary  with  a  postscript  from  Penn,  much 
of  it  illegible  but  closing  with  the  words  "  My  dear  love  to 
all  my  dear  friends." 

He  lived  six  years  longer,  unable  to  transact  business. 
The  bargain  with  the  Crow^n  was  annulled,  ultimately  much 
to  the  gain  of  the  family,  and  Logan's  engagement  and  in- 
structions thereafter  came  from  Hannah  Callowhill  Penn 
and  her  children. 

Shortly  before  the  attack  the  secretary  arranged  for  pay- 


136    POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ment  for  past  services.  He  writes  later  "  The  Proprietor 
was  willing  to  give  me  what  I  would  ask  for  my  ten  years' 
service  and  considering  his  melancholy  circumstances  in 
1711  I  set  it  only  £100  a  year  currency,  for  all  manner  of 
services  whatever;  but  told  him  I  could  stay  in  his  service 
no  more  than  two  years.  But  he  was  seized  with  an  apo- 
plectic fit  in  less  than  one  year,  which  tied  me  down  to  his 
business,  and  vastly  as  it  proved  to  my  loss." 

Logan  writing  in  1714  says  that  the  people  are  "generally 
pretty  easy,  all  the  factions  against  the  proprietor  being 
over."  There  were  no  more  Quaker  parties  in  the  govern- 
ment but  Logan's  troubles  were  not  over.  Gookin  after 
several  years  of  great  harmony  with  the  Assembly  became 
disaffected  and  got  on  wrong  terms  with  every  one.  There 
was  some  cause.  His  meagre  salary  was  frequently  unpaid 
and  he  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  undignified  begging 
in  procuring  an  ordinary  existence.  The  personal  loyalty 
to  Penn  reawakened  by  his  appeal  of  1710  partly  passed 
away  when  the  pecuniary  needs  of  the  government  seemed 
to  conflict  with  what  he  considered  his  personal  rights.  A 
new  generation  was  growing  up  who  did  not  know  him  and 
since  his  release  from  active  connection  with  the  province 
were  less  disposed  to  join  with  Norris  and  Logan  in  a  vig- 
orous assertion  of  his  claims. 

First  Gookin  quarreled  with  Lloyd  (who  was  in  1715 
again  speaker)  and  the  Assembly,  because  there  was  not  a 
quorum  on  the  day  for  convening.  He  afterwards  charged 
Norris  and  Logan,  the  former  now  mayor  of  Philadelphia, 
with  disloyalty  to  the  Crown.  He  himself  in  retracting  the 
charge  intimated  that  he  was  temporarily  deranged,  a  not 
improbable  suggestion.  His  Council  in  1717  sent  a  unani- 
mous address  to  William  Penn  that  he  be  removed,  and 
Hannah  Penn  now  manager  for  her  husband  appointed  Sir 
William  Keith  as  successor.    These  troubles  however  did 


JAMES  LOGAN  137 

not,  except  in  one  particular,  seriously  distract  the  good  leg- 
islation of  the  province  and  matters  were  rapidly  getting 
into  shape. 

This  one  exception  related  to  oaths.  There  was  nothing 
on  which  Friends  were  more  consistently  united  than  in 
their  opposition  to  the  administration  and  taking  of  oaths. 
Lloyd  was  their  great  champion  but  Logan  and  his  friends 
were  with  him.  Their  objection  was  party  biblical,  largely 
their  denial  of  a  double  standard,  one  for  the  court-room  and 
another  for  the  shop  and  the  farm.  They  demanded  that 
their  yea  and  nay  be  taken  at  their  face  value  whenever 
uttered:  they  charged  that  the  constant  formal  and  often 
flippant  use  of  the  name  of  the  Deity  induced  irreverence 
and  profanity.  They  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
oaths  or  to  hold  any  office  which  necessitated  administering 
them.  Largely  due  to  Quaker  protests  reinforced  by  im- 
prisonment a  form  of  affirmation  not  very  satisfactory  had 
been  substituted  in  England.  But  they  also  recognized  that 
their  principle  of  freedom  of  conscience,  as  well  as  respect 
for  English  law,  could  not  force  affirmations  on  dissidents  in 
Pennsylvania.  Up  to  about  1715  by  virtue  of  acts  passed  by 
the  Assembly  matters  had  gone  on  quietly  and  oaths  were 
practically  not  administered.  The  English  law  of  that  year 
put  out  of  all  official  positions,  including  juries,  and  out  of 
the  witness  box,  all  who  did  not  swear.  Now  Governor 
Gookin  construed  this  as  applying  to  the  colonies. 

In  many  country  districts  there  were  none  but  Friends 
and  illiterate  servants  and  all  judicial  proceedings  were 
stopped.  In  the  city  it  was  not  much  better  as  Friends  held 
all  the  important  positions  and  constituted  the  leadership 
of  the  political  situation.  Lloyd  gave  his  legal  influence 
vigorously  to  the  cause  but  the  governor  stood  firm  in  his 
construction  of  the  law.  For  two  years  the  province  sur- 
vived without  courts  and  criminals  went  unpunished.    An 


138     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

atrocious  murder  committed  in  Chester  County  seemed  to 
make  it  necessary  to  do  something,  and  the  culprit  was 
condemned  to  death  on  the  strength  of  unsworn  testimony 
and  by  an  unsworn  jury.  Appeal  was  made  to  England  but 
Keith,  by  this  time  governor,  hung  the  criminal. 

We  may  carry  this  account  ahead  of  our  general  nar- 
rative. Sir  William  Keith,  a  man  of  great  political  acute- 
ness,  suggested  that  if  the  Assembly  would  adopt  the  Eng- 
lish penal  code  they  might  in  exchange  have  their  way  in 
the  matter  of  oaths.  Lloyd  and  his  friends  agreed  and  in 
1718  placed  burglary  and  some  dozen  crimes  on  the  capital 
list,  in  the  same  act  making  affirmations  and  oaths  optional 
with  the  taker.  The  form  of  affirmation  included  however 
the  phrase  "  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,"  to  which 
many  Friends  objected  and  in  1725  this  was  further  modi- 
fied to  make  it  a  simple  affirmation.  This  relieved  the 
taker  but  as  oaths  could  still  be  demanded  by  those  without 
scruples  in  the  matter,  there  was  nothing  for  the  consistent 
Friend  to  do  but  refuse  an  official  position  which  involved 
administering  them,  so  that  in  this  respect  Friends  became 
"  dissenters  in  their  own  country."  The  solution  found  in 
1725  still  continues. 

The  extension  of  the  capital  code  from  Penn's  limitation 
to  murder  in  the  first  degree  to  a  number  of  lower  forms  of 
crime  seems  to  have  met  with  no  opposition  from  Friends 
and  was  continued  through  all  colonial  times  without  pro- 
test. Thus  John  Smith  a  prominent  Friend  writes  in  his 
diary  in  1747,  "  Was  part  of  the  day  at  the  Court  of  Oyer 
and  Terminer  called  on  purpose  to  try  three  villains  for  a 
burglary  and  robbery  of  the  widow  Cox  at  my  accusing 
which  was  so  clearly  proved  that  the  Jury  soon  found  them 
guilty."  And  again  a  day  later,  "  Heard  that  sentence  of 
death  was  passed  on  the  poor  villains  mentioned  above." 

Better  times  were  coming  for  the  secretary.     In  1714  he 


JAMES  LOGAN  139 

made  a  happy  marriage  with  Sarah  the  daughter  of  Charles 
Read,  a  Councillor  prominent  in  public  affairs.  He  en- 
gaged in  the  Indian  trade  and  in  commercial  ventures  which 
ultimately  brought  him  a  considerable  fortune.  His  friends 
were  the  most  intellectual  and  most  influential  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  including  "  wise  Samuel  Carpenter,"  Isaac 
Norris,  and  Richard  Hill,  "  the  three  best  heads  in  Penn- 
sylvania," as  he  says.  He  himself  was  their  peer  in  busi- 
ness sagacity  and  their  superior  in  learning  and  scholarly 
interests.  The  voice  of  faction  among  Friends  had  ceased 
and  England  presented  after  the  peace  of  1710-12  no  claims 
for  military  service  for  almost  30  years.  The  oath  question 
was  settled.  There  was  litigation  over  William  Penn's 
Estate  but  this  was  confined  to  England  and  ultimately 
resulted  in  1726  in  confirming  the  title  in  the  hands  of  John, 
Thomas,  and  Richard  Penn,  the  sons  of  the  second  wife. 
These  became  warm  friends  of  Logan  and  fully  trusted  him, 
while  he  returned  to  them  as  agent  and  secretary  the  same 
unswerving  fidelity  which  he  had  accorded  to  their  father. 
The  great  immigration  of  Germans  and  Scotch-Irish  solved 
the  financial  difficulty  by  land  sales  and  quit-rents.  Wise 
legislation  placed  the  government  in  smooth  working  order, 
and  a  satisfactory  system  of  courts  was  established.  The 
management  of  Logan  kept  the  Indians  friendly.  Taxes 
were  trifling.  The  average  provincial  expenditure  under 
Keith's  administration  was  1500  pounds  a  year.  Laws  for- 
bidding the  use  of  molasses  and  other  foreign  substances  in 
the  manufacture  of  beer,  and  requiring  that  all  flour  and 
salted  provisions  should  be  up  to  a  standard  quality,  thus 
insuring  a  great  foreign  trade,  stimulated  home  production, 
while  the  immense  immigration  vastly  increased  the  product 
of  the  farms.  Peace  and  liberty  were  proving  their  efiicacy 
as  agents  of  prosperity  and  comfort,  enriching  alike  country 
farmer  and  city  trader. 


140     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

There  was  however  much  difficulty  owing  to  the  scarcity 
of  circulating  medium,  for  the  imports  still  were  in  great 
excess  of  exports,  and  had  to  be  paid  for.  Keith  suggested 
a  paper  issue  based  on  land  and  plate.  But  Logan,  warned 
by  the  unfortunate  experiments  in  other  colonies,  opposed  it 
vigorously.  The  bill  went  through  the  Assembly  however 
and  Logan's  opposition  had  the  very  desirable  effect  of 
making  it  a  conservative  measure.  Hence  the  paper  never 
depreciated  and  greatly  increased  trade. 

An  Indian  incident  of  1722  will  illustrate  the  methods  by 
which  peace  on  the  frontiers  was  maintained.  The  council 
was  informed  that  a  red  man  of  the  Five  Nations  had  been 
killed  in  what  is  now  Lancaster  County  by  two  whites 
named  Cartledge.  James  Logan  and  Colonel  French  were 
deputed  to  ascertain  the  facts.  They  called  a  council  of 
Indians  at  the  place  of  the  murder  and  had  the  suspected 
criminals  arrested.  Logan  made  one  of  his  happy  speeches, 
for  he  was  now  well  versed  in  Indian  psychology,  calling 
attention  to  the  league  of  friendship  made  by  William  Penn 
and  that  the  league  had  been  rigidly  observed  by  both 
parties.  Only  one  complaint  had  been  made  for  forty 
years.  Now  a  report  had  come  of  a  murder  by  a  white  man, 
and  they  had  come  to  condole  with  the  friends  of  the  victim 
and  see  that  justice  be  done  according  to  the  league  of 
friendship. 

Witnesses  were  then  examined  by  which  it  appeared  that 
the  Indian  was  setting  his  traps  when  the  Cartledges  came 
to  him  to  trade.  They  gave  him  rum  and  he  persisted  in  his 
demand  for  more  till  the  trader  irritated  struck  him  so  that 
he  died.  A  message  was  sent  to  the  Senecas  in  New  York 
with  a  statement  of  regret  and  that  the  offenders  were  to  be 
taken  to  Philadelphia  to  answer  for  their  fault.  After  va- 
rious circumlocutions  and  conferences  and  exchanges  of 
wampum  belts  final  word  came  to  Philadelphia  as  follows: 


JAMES  LOGAN  141 

"  We  have  well  considered  all  you  have  spoken  and  like 
it  well,  because  it  is  only  the  renewing  of  the  former  leagues 
and  treaties  made  between  the  government  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  Five  Nations,  which  we  always  believed  we  were 
obliged  to  keep.  And  as  to  the  accident  of  one  of  our 
friends  being  killed  by  some  of  your  people,  which  has  hap- 
pened by  misfortune  and  against  youj  will,  we  say  that  we 
are  all  in  peace ;  we  think  it  hard  the  persons  who  killed  our 
friend  and  brother  should  suffer  and  we  do  in  the  name  of 
all  the  Five  Nations  forgive  the  offence  and  desire  you  will 
likewise  forgive  it,  and  that  the  men  who  did  it  may  be 
released  from  prison  and  set  at  liberty  to  go  whither  they 
please;  and  we  shall  esteem  that  as  a  mark  of  regard  and 
friendship  for  the  Five  Nations  and  as  a  further  confirma- 
tion of  this  treaty." 

The  Indians  on  the  Brandywine  sent  a  petition  to  the 
Assembly  making  complaint  against  the  whites  for  in- 
fringement of  their  fishing  rights.  They  asserted  that  Wil- 
liam Penn  had  granted  them  a  tract  a  mile  on  either  side  of 
the  Creek,  the  deed  for  which  had  been  burned  in  the  cabin 
in  which  it  was  kept.  There  was  no  record  of  such  a  treaty. 
The  English  had  settled  all  over  this  tract  and  worse  still 
had  built  dams  which  prevented  the  passage  of  fish.  While 
the  story  was  based  on  no  legal  claims  Logan  recognized  the 
vitality  of  Indian  tradition,  and  induced  the  governor  to 
order  that  the  dams  should  be  constructed  so  as  to  allow 
the  fish  to  pass. 

These  incidents  are  illustrations  of  the  management  of 
Indian  relations  through  the  first  half  century  of  the  prov- 
ince under  William  Penn  and  James  Logan.  It  is  easy  to 
see  why  there  was  uninterrupted  peace.  There  is  probably 
no  record  of  Logan's  attitude  toward  the  Walking  Purchase 
and  the  iniquities  that  followed  it,  but  it  may  be  assumed  to 
accord  with  his  other  actions. 

There  is  a  story  that  the  old  chief  Wingohocking  became 
so  friendly  that  he  offered  to  change  names  with  Logan. 


142     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

It  was  not  entirely  convenient  to  accept  the  offer,  but 
the  chief  must  not  be  antagonized.  So  Logan  replied  that 
he  would  soon  pass  away  and  be  forgotten,  but  the  stream, 
pointing  to  one  which  went  through  his  fields,  would  flow  on 
through  all  generations,  and  he  would  give  it  the  Indian 
name  to  be  carried  down  forever.  This  happy  expedient 
satisfied  the  Indian  who  changed  his  name  to  Logan  and 
transferred  his  own  to  the  stream  which  still  perpetuates  it. 
Twenty  years  after  the  Cartledge  incident  when  James 
Logan  was  an  old  man,  a  chief  of  the  Six  Nations  expressed 
his  kind  regard  for  him  in  Indian  fashion  to  the  Governor 
and  Council  in  Philadelphia: 

"  Brethren  we  called  at  our  old  friend  James  Logan's  on 
our  way  to  the  city,  and  to  our  grief  we  found  him  hid  in 
the  bushes  and  retired  through  infirmities  from  the  public 
business.  We  pressed  him  to  leave  his  retirement  and  pre- 
vailed with  him  to  assist  once  more  on  our  account  at  your 
council.  We  hope  notwithstanding  his  age  and  the  effects 
of  a  fit  of  sickness  which  we  understand  has  hurt  his  consti- 
tution that  he  may  continue  a  long  time  to  assist  this  prov- 
ince with  his  counsels.  He  is  a  wise  man  and  a  fast  friend 
to  the  Indians;  and  we  desire  when  his  soul  goes  to  God, 
you  may  choose  in  his  room  just  such  another  person  of  the 
same  prudence  and  ability  in  counselling  and  of  the  same 
tender  disposition  and  affection  for  the  Indians." 

Sir  William  Keith  had  proved  a  popular  and  politic  gov- 
ernor. He  had  shown  Friends  a  solution  of  the  oath  diffi- 
culty; had  carried  through  the  movement  for  a  paper  cur- 
rency; had  suggested  many  pieces  of  good  legislation;  and 
by  his  agreeable  manners  had  made  a  most  favorable  im- 
pression on  the  people.  But  after  nearly  ten  years'  service 
he  ran  up  against  Logan  and  his  friends  in  a  delicate  mat- 
ter of  management.  Theoretically  the  Council  had  no  legal 
rights  in  legislation,  being  only  an  advisory  body  for  the 
governor.    But  he  was  nevertheless  the  creature  of  the  Penn 


JAMES  LOGAN  143 

family  who  had  implicit  trust  in  Logan  and  who  had  sent 
instructions  that  no  measures  were  to  be  passed  without  the 
consent  of  the  majority  of  the  Council.  Keith  tried  various 
devices  to  rid  himself  of  this  incumbrance.  On  the  other 
hand  the  Council  tried  to  set  up  an  unjustifiable  claim  that 
its  relations  to  government  were  somewhat  like  those  of  the 
House  of  Lords  in  England,  and  held  as  strictly  to  their 
powers  as  possible.  Keith  for  a  time  carried  on  the  contest 
with  his  usual  astuteness,  but  in  1722  becoming  bolder  in 
his  methods  and  feeling  sure  of  popular  support,  on  the  plea 
that  Logan  had  entered  on  the  minutes  something  that  had 
not  officially  passed  the  Council,  the  governor  discharged 
him  from  his  offices  as  councillor,  secretary  and  keeper  of 
the  great  seal.  He  was  thus  thrown  entirely  out  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

But  he  was  not  of  the  sort  that  submit  easily  to  such  a 
dismissal.  He  sailed  to  England  and  returned  in  a  little 
time  with  definite  instructions  from  Hannah  Penn.  Keith, 
was  to  make  at  least  half  his  board  Quakers  and  no  new 
members  were  to  be  appointed  without  the  consent  of  those 
already  in.  He  was  to  send  no  verbal  or  written  messages 
to  the  Assembly  without  their  consent.  He  was  to  rein- 
state Logan  in  all  his  offices,  and  was  threatened  with  dis- 
missal if  he  further  disobe^^ed. 

This  was  humiliating  enough  to  a  man  of  such  large  in- 
fluence and  importance,  still  more  so  that  it  came  from  the 
hands  of  Logan.  He  decided  not  to  submit  and  prepared  a 
reply  justifying  his  actions  to  the  Assembly.  This  brought 
to  his  aid  the  old  war-horse  David  Lloyd,  now  Chief  Justice 
of  the  province,  who  gave  his  legal  advice  to  the  support  of 
the  independent  powers  of  the  Assembly  and  the  non-inter- 
ference of  the  Council.  The  Assembly  backed  up  their  old 
leader  and  assured  Keith  of  their  gratitude.  But  they  could 
not  prevent  his  dismissal  by  Mrs.  Penn  and  when  he  was 


144    POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

himself  elected  a  member  of  their  body  and  aspired  to  the 
speakership  he  was  easily  defeated  by  David  Lloyd. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Patrick  Gordon,  a  wise  old  man  who 
seemed  to  harmonize  the  hitherto  conflicting  claims  of  Pro- 
prietor and  Assembly.  For  ten  years,  1726  to  1736,  there 
was  great  peace  and  prosperity.  There  was  a  vast  influx  of 
foreigners,  Palatines  from  the  Rhine  Valley  and  Presbyte- 
rians from  the  north  of  Ireland,  as  many  as  6000  to  8000  per 
year.  Many  were  poor,  without  money  even  to  pay  for  their 
passages,  and  were  sold  out  to  service  in  the  Delaware  River 
for  a  term  of  years.  This  supplied  abundant  labor  but  the 
influx  was  not  looked  upon  with  much  favor  by  the  Phila- 
delphians.  Problems  of  illiteracy  and  sanitation  demanded 
much  attention.  A  tax  of  40  shillings  per  head  was  passed 
on  all  aliens  imported.  The  Germans,  as  a  report  to  the 
Assembly  asserted,  "  had  purchased  and  honestly  paid  for 
their  lands,  had  conducted  themselves  respectfully  towards 
the  government,  paid  their  taxes  readily  and  were  a  sober 
and  honest  people  in  their  religious  and  civil  duties."  Yet 
they  would  use  their  own  language  and  lived  very  much  to 
themselves.  The  Irish  moved  to  the  frontiers  and  their  in- 
considerate treatment  of  the  Indians  was  already  beginning 
to  stir  up  trouble  which  developed  later.  It  seemed  that  the 
colony  would  soon  contain  a  foreign  population.  The  fran- 
chise was  however  still  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  original 
settlers  and  their  descendants.  It  was  limited  to  men  who 
owned  50  acres  of  land  or  had  an  income  of  50  pounds  a 
year.  This  was  probably  the  most  liberal  of  all  the  colonial 
laws  and  far  more  so  than  those  of  England ;  but  it  tended 
to  continue  a  literate  and  hereditary  electorate.  The  As- 
sembly was  constituted  of  26  members,  eight  from  each  of 
the  three  original  counties  of  Chester,  Philadelphia,  and 
Bucks  and  two  from  the  city.  As  these  country  districts 
were  almost  exclusively  Friendly  a  large  majority  of,  and 


JAMES  LOGAN  145 

frequently  all,  its  members  belonged  to  the  governing  sect. 
When  new  counties  were  admitted  (Lancaster  being  the  first 
in  1729)  they  were  accorded  a  smaller  representation  and 
this  was  not  increased  as  their  population  grew.  This  in 
time  constituted  a  real  grievance. 

There  were  no  infractions  of  religious  liberty  and  no  the- 
ological tests  for  suffrage  except  such  as  were  imposed  by 
the  English  Crown.  It  was  a  time  of  great  distrust  of 
Roman  Catholics  on  account  of  their  supposed  allegiance 
to  the  exiled  Stuart  family  and  the  French  interests.  St. 
Joseph's  Church  had  been  built  in  the  city  and  mass  was 
openly  celebrated  there  contrary  to  English  law.  The 
Council  however  decided  that  Pennsylvania  was  an  excep- 
tion and  that  all  sects  were  protected  by  the  charter.  Le- 
gally the  position  of  the  Council  was  probably  indefensible 
but  the  matter  was  allowed  to  rest. 

The  Friends  by  this  time  had  outgrown  all  internal 
political  parties  and  worked  together.  They  were  without 
question  the  governing  body,  and  while  making  no  legal 
discrimination  against  other  religions,  by  virtue  of  their 
personal  character  and  training  and  their  well  organized  sys- 
tem, maintained  an  easy  leadership.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  they  used  their  ecclesiastical  order  to  advance  their 
political  schemes,  but  their  close  friendships  produced  the 
same  effects.  How  their  candidates  were  selected  is  not 
very  evident,  but  probably  by  an  informal  meeting  of  their 
influential  men.  An  entry  of  John  Smith's  diary  speaks  of 
such  a  meeting.  To  these  selections  the  body  of  voters 
seemed  to  be  loyal.  A  good  man  in  the  Assembly  was  re- 
elected year  after  year,  for  thirty  years  in  the  cases  of 
George  Ashbridge  from  Chester  County  and  Isaac  Norris 
2nd  from  Philadelphia.  It  was  the  high  water  time  of 
Quaker  management  and  they  were  giving  a  good  account 
of  themselves.    The  commerce  of  the  colony  was  develop- 


146     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ing  at  a  rapid  rate  increasing  threefold  during  Gordon's  ad- 
ministration. The  problems  were  those  of  development  and 
not  of  dissension. 

In  1731  in  succession  to  David  Lloyd,  James  Logan  be- 
came Chief  Justice  of  the  province  which  post  he  held  for 
five  years.  His  most  notable  achievement  was  a  charge  de- 
livered to  the  Grand  Jury  in  1736,  in  which  at  some  length 
he  goes  over  the  functions  of  government  and  the  duties  of 
juries  in  keeping  public  life  up  to  high  standards.  This 
was  printed  in  America  ,and  England  and  received  much 
notice. 

In  1736  on  the  death  of  Gordon  and  pending  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  successor  Logan  as  President  of  the  Council  be- 
came nominal  head  of  the  government.  He  accepted  the 
responsibility  with  great  reluctance.  "  I  am  now  entering 
my  63rd  year,"  he  writes  John  Penn  the  eldest  of  the  propri- 
etors, "  much  weakened  in  all  respects  and  so  circumstanced 
that  I  am  every  way  unfit  for  it;  and  I  now  greatly  blame 
myself  for  submitting  to  it  on  the  governor's  decease.  But 
next  in  standing  to  me  being  Samuel  Preston,  who  is  yet 
more  weakened  by  age  and  too  rigidly  strict  in  his  profes- 
sion for  government  ...  I  was  prevailed  upon  to  accept 
it,  in  hopes  it  might  hold  only  for  a  few  months;  and  if  not 
relieved,  as  I  have  said,  I  must  relinquish  it,  let  it  fall  where 
it  will." 

The  Council  had  no  legal  part  in  legislation  and  hence 
while  the  Assembly  met  to  advise,  no  laws  were  passed  for 
two  years,  because  there  was  no  governor  empowered  to 
sign  them.  Logan,  now  the  chief  man  of  the  colony,  had 
charge  of  all  executive  duties.  The  most  important  of  these 
related  to  the  quarrel  with  the  governor  of  Maryland  over 
the  still  undetermined  boundary  line.  A  "  war  "  between 
two  sheriffs'  posses  resulted  in  one  man  being  killed  on 
each  side  and  a  number  being  placed  in  jail.     This  might 


JAMES  LOGAN  "  147 

have  developed  further,  but  an  order  from  the  King  was 
sent  over  which  resulted  in  a  temporary  peace  and  the  re- 
lease of  all  prisoners.  No  lands  were  to  be  granted  by 
either  province  in  the  disputed  territory  till  further  orders. 

The  great  speech  of  Andrew  Hamilton,  the  first  lawyer 
of  the  colony,  not  a  Friend,  is  the  best  testimony  to  the 
happy  conditions  in  1739  when  he  gave  up  the  speakership. 

Logan  desired  that  John  Penn  should  succeed  to  the  gov- 
ernorship. He  distrusted  Thomas's  ability  to  get  along 
with  the  people.  "  If  it  is  so  ordered,"  he  writes  John,  "  I 
shall  very  heartily  wish  it  may  prove  to  his  own  and  all 
your  satisfaction;  yet  I  have  too  much  reason  to  doubt  of 
it.  An  open  freedom  and  plainness,  or  an  effectual  appear- 
ance of  it  I  take  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  a  governor." 

But  George  Thomas  was  appointed  in  1738.  He  was  not 
a  Quaker  and  did  not  understand  them.  There  would  have 
been  trouble  in  ordinary  times  but  the  Spanish  War  broke 
out  a  year  later  and  the  demands  of  England,  unwisely 
pressed  by  him  upon  the  Assembly,  created  the  first  friction 
due  to  a  martial  cause  since  1712.  The  Friends  by  this 
time  had  settled  down  into  the  policy  of  refusal  to  force 
any  one  to  fight,  Quaker  or  non-Quaker,  or  to  levy  taxes 
ostensibly  for  war  purposes.  They  would  not  interfere 
with  voluntary  enlistments,  and  they  would  vote  money 
"  for  the  King's  use  "  even  when  they  knew  that  some  of  it 
would  go  for  martial  purposes.  Governor  Thomas  mis- 
reported  them  to  England  and  proposed  that  they  should  be 
kept  out  of  government  by  the  requirement  of  an  official 
oath.  He  declined  to  sign  bills  because  they  did  not  em- 
brace military  appropriations  and  because  they  did  not 
raise  the  money  as  he  desired,  and  they  opposed  him  by  re- 
fusing him  a  salary.  The  proprietors  were  now  on  his  side 
and  the  military  spirit  of  the  non-Quakers  of  the  city  was 
rising.     The   Germans  who   loved   neither  taxes  nor  war 


148     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

voted  for  their  friends  and  the  Assembly  was  steadily  sup- 
ported by  the  electors. 

The  contest  is  explained  elsewhere.^  We  will  here  con- 
fine ourselves  to  James  Logan's  part.  He  had  not  changed 
his  views  on  the  morality  of  defensive  war  since  he  came 
over  with  William  Penn  in  1699.  Up  to  this  time  there 
had  seemed  no  occasion  to  diverge  openly  from  the  stand 
taken  by  other  Friends.  Now  the  issue  was  more  clearly 
drawn  and  in  1741  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing. In  this  he  admits  that  the  unlawfulness  of  all  war  ac- 
cording to  Christian  standards  is  a  well-understood  prin- 
ciple of  Friends  and  always  has  been.  Nevertheless  as  all 
government  is  founded  on  force  there  are  conditions  when 
this  force  must  be  drilled  and  armed.  While  Friends  trust 
that  having  done  their  duty,  by  means  which  they  consider 
moral,  Providence  will  protect  them,  they  do  not  observe 
Christ's  other  precepts  but  lay  up  treasures  on  earth  in 
which  they  have  been  so  successful  that  the  province  would 
now  be  a  choice  prey  for  an  invader.  Only  one-third  of  the 
people  are  Friends  and  others  are  clamoring  for  defense, 
and  finally  he  urges  that  those  who  for  conscience'  sake  can- 
not join  to  protect  the  province  should  decline  to  be  can- 
didates for  official  position.  The  paper  was  referred  to  a 
committee  which  reported  that  it  related  to  governmental 
matters  and  was  not  suitable  to  be  read  in  their  meeting. 

A  letter  from  Richard  Peters  to  John  Penn  says  that 
when  the  report  of  the  committee  was  presented  Robert 
Strettell  ^  alone  in  the  meeting  stated  that  owing  to  the  im- 
portance of  their  old  member,  whose  life  evinced  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Society,  the  refusal  to  read  the  letter  would 
alienate  himself  and  English  Friends,  but  someone  plucked 

1  See  Isaac  Norris  and  John  Kinsey. 

2  A  few  years  later  Robert  Strettell  was  disowned  for  arming  his 
ship. 


JAMES  LOGAN  149 

him  by  the  coat  and  told  him  "  Sit  thee  down,  Robert,  thou 
art  single  (alone)  in  this  matter." 

The  matter  produced  some  discussion.  It  was  pointed 
out  that  it  was  not  the  fact  of  force  but  the  methods  of 
force,  that  was  objected  to  and  that  the  police  agent  used 
his  for  the  protection  not  the  destruction  of  Society,  and 
did  not  engage  in  the  cruelties  attendant  on  warfare.  That 
the  Friends  did  not  represent  the  whole  province  was  an- 
swered in  the  next  election  by  returning  the  old  house,  even 
from  districts  not  much  inhabited  by  Friends.  "  In  the 
most  remote  county  of  this  province,"  says  a  Meeting  re- 
port "  at  the  last  election  all  the  representatives  returned  to 
serve  in  the  Assembly  were  of  our  Society ;  and  though  those 
in  the  opposition  to  Friends  were  very  active  yet  of  1150 
freeholders  that  voted  (in  which  there  were  not  above  20 
Friends)  they  could  prevail  with  scarce  200  to  join  them." 

James  Logan  was  also  out  of  sympathy  with  Friends  in 
the  matter  of  lotteries.  For  some  unexplained  reason  they 
had  got  about  a  century  ahead  of  general  public  sentiment 
in  opposing  them  and  had  gone  so  far  as  to  disown  members 
who  bought  tickets  or  managed  a  raffle.  Since  about  1720 
their  utterances  were  very  definite  and  later,  while  other 
bodies  were  building  universities  and  churches,  court  houses 
and  jails  and  public  improvements  in  general  from  their 
proceeds,  they  remained  aloof.  In  1747  Logan  joined  with 
Benjamin  Franklin  and  others  in  establishing  a  great  lottery 
from  the  proceeds  of  which  a  battery  was  to  be  erected  on 
the  Delaware  River  for  defense,  and  he  directed  that  any 
profits  assigned  to  him  should  go  directly  to  the  support  of 
the  battery. 

The  last  decade  of  his  life  was  spent  at  Stenton,  where 
he  exercised  boundless  hospitality,  engaged  in  classical  and 
scientific  studies  and  writings,  and  was  consulted  on  pub- 
lic affairs.  In  1729  he  had  a  fall  which  broke  his  thigh  and 
made  him  a  cripple  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 


150     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

His  residence,  the  best  specimen  of  a  colonial  home  still 
standing,  was  built  in  1728  on  his  tract  of  500  acres  near 
what  is  now  Wayne  Junction  on  the  Philadelphia  and  Read- 
ing Railroad,  In  the  main  room  of  the  second  story,  sur- 
rounded by  his  books  he  spent  his  time,  the  grand  old  man 
of  the  colony,  respected  by  all.  While  differing  from  his 
coreligionists  on  certain  ethical  matters  and  taking  but 
little  part  in  church  affairs,  he  had  great  sympathy  with 
their  spiritual  attitude  in  all  religious  concerns.  His  fam- 
ily, more  Friendly  than  himself,  retained  a  close  associa- 
tion with  the  leading  Friends  of  the  city  and  formed  a  part 
of  that  delightful  society  of  religious  and  intellectual  souls 
so  pleasantly  described  by  John  Smith. 

Outside  of  his  denomination  he  had  the  hearty  respect  of 
all.  Benjamin  Franklin  looked  up  to  him  for  advice  and 
aid,  which  was  not  very  generously  reciprocated.  He  was 
a  leading  factor  in  founding  the  school  which  afterwards  de- 
veloped into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
Overseer  of  the  "  Public  Schools  "  founded  by  the  Charter 
of  William  Penn.  To  him  repaired  the  men  responsible  for 
the  affairs  of  the  province  to  consult  concerning  legislation 
and  measures  of  finance  and  management,  for  his  most  in- 
timate knowledge  of  all  the  details  of  the  history  of  the 
province  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  Penn  family,  to- 
gether with  his  steady  judgment  made  him  an  unrivalled 
authority  in  all  colonial  concerns.  The  sons  of  William 
Penn  trusted  him  as  implicitly  as  did  their  father  and  he 
gave  them  good  advice  with  a  free  hand.  His  own  success 
in  trade  made  him  independent  of  any  financial  payments 
from  them,  which  suited  their  rather  penurious  habits.  No 
charge  of  misappropriation  or  cupidity  was  ever  made 
against  him,  indeed  his  services  to  William  Penn  were  ever 
generous.  Indians  by  the  hundreds  for  days  at  a  time 
camped  on  his  place,  in  grounds  especially  set  apart  for 


JAMES  LOGAN  151 

them,  to  receive  his  advice  and  largesses.  Stenton  was  a 
center  of  the  intellectual,  social  and  political  life  of  the 
city. 

His  intellectual  interests  were  varied.  He  conducted  ex- 
periments on  the  fertilization  of  plants  and  announced  re- 
sults verified  by  modern  science.  These  were  published  in 
Latin  in  Leyden  and  London.  He  investigated  and  wrote 
upon  the  angular  appearance  of  lightning  and  the  cause  of 
the  apparent  increase  of  sun  and  moon  near  the  horizon. 
When  Thomas  Godfrey  was  working  out  his  trade  as  painter 
and  glazier  at  Stenton,  the  idea  which  afterwards  developed 
into  the  sextant  for  finding  latitude  at  sea  occurred  to  him. 
Logan  wrote  this  up  for  the  Royal  Society  and  elsewhere, 
but  the  reward  for  the  discovery  was  given  to  Hadley. 
Other  scientific  publications  in  Latin  followed  at  intervals. 
Linnaeus  in  recognition  of  his  botanical  knowledge  named 
an  order  of  trees  and  shrubs  the  Loganacece. 

But  the  Latin  Classics  constituted  his  favorite  study  and 
his  most  distinguished  publication  was  his  translation  of 
Cicero's  De  Senectute,  which  was  printed  by  Franklin. 

His  long  correspondence  with  his  old-time  rival  but  after- 
wards fast  friend  Thomas  Story  has  been  printed.  Thomas 
Story  was  a  much  esteemed  minister  among  Friends  who 
after  fourteen  years  spent  in  Pennsylvania  moved  to  Eng- 
land where  he  was  closely  associated  with  William  Penn  in 
his  later  years  and  lived  to  an  old  age.  The  letters  relate 
to  many  scientific,  philosophical  and  religious  subjects,  in- 
dicating serious  study  on  the  part  of  both.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  a  statement  of  Thomas  Story,  written  in  1738.  "  I 
spent  some  months  at  Scarborough,  attending  the  meetings, 
at  whose  high  cliffs  and  the  great  variety  of  strata  therein, 
and  their  present  positions  I  further  learned  and  was  con- 
firmed in  some  things;  and  that  the  earth  is  of  much  older 
date  as  to  the  beginning  of  it  than  the  time  assigned  in  the 


152     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Holy  Scriptures,  as  commonly  understood,  which  is  suited 
to  the  common  capacities  of  the  human  kind,  as  to  five  days 
progressive  work;  by  which  I  understand  certain  long  and 
competent  periods  of  time  and  not  natural  days."  This 
may  have  been  the  beginning  of  the  attempted  harmony  of 
Genesis  and  Geology. 

James  Logan  spent  much  time  and  money  in  collecting 
the  most  scholarly  library,  certainly  in  the  province,  pos- 
sibly in  America.  It  was  his  regret  as  he  writes  Thomas 
Story  "  that  my  considerable  collection  of  Greek  and  Roman 
authors,  with  others  in  various  languages  will  not  find  an 
heir  in  my  family  to  use  them  when  I  have  gone."  Some 
time  before  his  death  he  determined  to  give  them  to  the 
city  as  the  nucleus  of  a  public  library,  and  in  his  will,  writ- 
ten two  years  before  he  died,  he  says: 

"  In  my  library  which  I  have  left  to  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia for  the  facilitating  and  advancement  of  classical  learn- 
ing are  about  one  hundred  authors  in  folio  all  in  Greek  with 
mostly  their  versions ;  all  the  Roman  classics  without  excep- 
tion; all  the  old  Greek  mathematicians,  viz.,  Archimedes, 
Euclid  and  Ptolemy.  .  .  .  Besides  these  are  many  of  the 
most  valuable  Latin  authors,  and  a  great  number  of  modern 
mathematicians,  with  all  the  three  editions  of  Newton,  Dr. 
Halley,  Wallis,  etc."  He  bequeathed  this  library  of  3000 
volumes  together  with  an  endowment  for  its  increase  and  the 
salary  of  the  librarian  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  It 
formed  the  Loganian  Library,  which  later  was  included  in 
the  Philadelphia  Library. 

The  annalist  Watson  says,  "  James  Logan  was  tall  and 
well-proportioned  with  a  graceful  yet  grave  demeanor.  He 
had  a  good  complexion  and  was  quite  florid  even  in  old  age ; 
nor  did  his  hair  which  was  brown  turn  grey  in  the  decline 
of  life,  nor  his  eyes  require  spectacles.  According  to  the 
custom  of  the  times  he  wore  a  powdered  wig.     His  whole 


JAMES  LOGAN  153 

demeanor  was  dignified  so  as  to  abash  impertinence;  yet 
he  was  kind  and  strictly  just  in  all  the  duties  of  acquaint- 
ance and  society." 

William  Black,  a  Virginia  visitor  at  Stenton,  gives  a 
somewhat  different  story.  "  I  was  very  much  surprised  at 
the  appearance  of  so  charming  a  woman  (his  daughter 
Hannah)  where  the  seeming  moroseness  and  goutified 
Father's  appearance  promised  no  such  beauty,  though  it 
must  be  allowed  the  man  seemed  to  have  some  remains  of  a 
handsome  enough  person  and  a  complection  beyond  his 
years  for  he  was  turned  70." 

He  died  October  31st,  1751,  having  just  entered  his  77th 
year,  having  for  a  half  century  placed  his  impress  deeply  on 
the  history  of  Pennsylvania. 

James  Logan  had  seven  children,  three  of  whom  died 
young.  Sarah  Logan  in  1739  married  Isaac  Norris,  the 
Speaker,  of  whom  James  Logan  says  that  he  was  the  most 
learned  man  in  the  colony  except  Richard  Peters,  the  Rector 
of  Christ  Church.  Their  daughter  Mary  married  John 
Dickinson. 

William  Logan  was  sent  to  England  under  the  care  of  his 
uncle  Dr.  William  Logan  of  Bristol  to  be  educated.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Council,  succeeded  his  father  in  care 
of  the  Penn  estates,  and  was  the  heir  to  Stenton.  As  Coun- 
cillor he  stood  out  alone  in  1756  in  opposition  to  a  declara- 
tion of  war  against  the  Indians.  His  life  indicates  a  closer 
association  with  the  Friends  and  more  complete  sympathy 
with  their  moral  positions  than  his  father.  His  son  was  Dr. 
George  Logan,  a  leader  in  state  affairs  after  the  Revolution, 
a  student  of  agriculture,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  a 
lover  of  peace.  When  in  the  closing  years  of  the  century 
there  was  a  prospect  of  a  French  war,  he  went  on  an  un- 
ofiicial  visit  to  Talleyrand  and  thought  that  he  had  large 
influence  in  averting  it.    But  Congress  passed  the  "  Logan 


154     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Act  "  which  made  such  interference  illegal  and  punishable. 
Notwithstanding  he  tried  again  a  few  years  later  with  Eng- 
land but  with  less  success,  for  the  War  of  1812  followed. 
His  wife  was  the  accomplished  Deborah  Norris,  niece  of 
the  Speaker,  to  whom  all  Pennsylvania  historians  are  vastly 
indebted  for  the  preservation  and  copying  of  thousands  of 
pages  of  Logan  Manuscripts.  These  covering  the  time  for 
ten  years  after  1701  are  published  as  "The  Penn  and  Logan 
Correspondence."  She  and  her  husband  made  Stenton  the 
center  of  the  best  life  of  the  republic.  Washington,  Jeffer- 
son, Franklin,  Randolph  and  many  other  leading  statesmen 
during  the  days  when  Philadelphia  was  the  capital  city  were 
entertained  with  elegant  hospitality  and  the  best  of  Quaker 
society.  Their  son  Albanus  Logan  married  the  daughter  of 
John  Dickinson. 

Hannah  Logan  married  John  Smith  who  kept  the  Diary^ 
which  gives  such  an  interesting  insight  into  the  life  of  the 
Quaker  group  which  before  the  war  led  the  colony  in  its 
politics  and  social  life.  She  became  a  minister.  Her  hand 
was  desired  by  Charles  Norris,  brother  of  the  Speaker,  later 
the  father  of  Deborah  Norris  Logan,  and  the  two  families 
lost  much  of  their  intimacy  on  account  of  John  Smith's  suc- 
cess. 

James  Logan  Jr.  left  no  children. 

When  to  this  complicated  family  relationship  is  added  the 
fact  that  Richard  Hill,  Samuel  Preston  and  Isaac  Norris  all 
married  daughters  of  Thomas  Lloyd,  that  Israel  Pemberton 
Sr.  married  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  James  Logan  and  their  son 
James  a  granddaughter  of  Thomas  Lloyd,  it  will  be  seen 
how  closely  associated  by  family  ties  were  nearly  all  the 
leading  men  of  the  "  Quaker  governing  class,"  a  class  of 
which  the  founders  were  Thomas  Lloyd  and  James  Logan. 

1  See  Hannah  Logan's  Courtship,  well  edited  by  Albert  Cook 
Myers,  1904. 


JAMES  LOGAN  I55 

After  William  Perm,  the  only  two  prominent  men  mentioned 
in  these  pages  not  nearly  related  to  the  others  were  David 
Lloyd  and  John  Kinsey. 


JOHN  KINSEY 

After  William  Penn,  no  Colonial  Quaker  had  the  abso- 
lute confidence  of  Friends  in  church  affairs,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  strong  leadership  in  the  state  to  the  extent 
possessed  by  John  Kinsey.  During  the  last  decade  of  his 
rather  short  life  he  was  the  clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  and 
its  most  responsible  and  influential  member.  He  was  also 
the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Province, 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly  and  the  undoubted  leader  of  his 
party  in  political  management.  By  this  time  the  factions 
within  the  Society  had  practically  disappeared.  It  was  one 
loyal  united  body  in  both  state  and  church.  The  differences 
which  separated  Thomas  Lloyd  and  George  Keith  and  later 
David  Lloyd  and  James  Logan  were  no  longer  existent. 
New  issues  were  soon  to  arise  but  when  John  Kinsey  came 
most  prominently  before  the  people,  there  was  this  calm 
which  had  been  cemented  by  about  thirty  years  of  peace  and 
prosperity,  after  the  political  upheaval  of  1710.  During 
this  time  the  memory  of  the  great  Founder  had  grown  more 
and  more  in  the  esteem  of  his  people.  His  government  was 
established  in  popular  regard  as  a  model  of  liberality  and 
wisdom.  His  words  were  quoted  and  his  example  pointed 
to,  in  settling  the  problems  which  arose. 

John  Kinsey's  grandfather,  John  Kinsey,  was  a  member 
of  the  little  band  which  settled  Burlington  in  1677.  He 
died  a  few  days  after  his  landing  at  the  Swedish  Settlement 
of  Shackamaxon.  His  standing  may  be  estimated  by  the 
fact  that  he  was  one  of  the  Commissioners  sent  by  the  pro- 
prietors of  West  Jersey  to  guard  their  interests.     His  son 

156 


I 


JOHN  KINSEY  157 

John  Kinsey  the  second  was  a  prominent  lawyer.  In  1716 
he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  New  Jersey,  of  which  he 
was  for  several  years  the  Speaker.  He  was  also  an  active 
and  acceptable  minister  among  Friends,  traveling  exten- 
sively through  the  colonies. 

John  Kinsey  the  third  had  therefore  an  inlieritance  of 
legal  and  ecclesiastical  faculty  which  he  greatly  developed 
in  himself.  At  the  same  time  he  had  the  Quaker  discipline 
of  his  youth,  and  a  religious  tendency  in  his  early  days 
which  steadied  and  utilized  his  great  powers  to  a  life  de- 
voted to  public  service. 

He  was  born  in  Burlington  in  1693.  He  studied  law, 
was  elected  to  the  Assembly  of  New  Jersey  and  became  its 
speaker  as  the  successor  to  his  father.  There  are  too  few 
records  of  his  public  life  and  still  less  of  his  private  to  en- 
able us  to  fill  up  this  bare  recital. 

The  first  we  hear  of  him  in  Philadelphia  is  in  1725  when 
he  came  to  plead  a  case  in  court  before  Governor  William 
Keith.  He  began  to  speak  with  his  hat  on.  The  governor 
who  should  have  better  informed  himself  as  to  Quaker 
scruples  ordered  him  to  take  it  off.  He  refused  stating  that 
he  was  acting  from  conscientious  motives.  The  governor 
ordered  the  court  ofiicers  to  remove  it  and  the  incident 
seemed  closed. 

But  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  it  was  too  vital  a  matter 
to  be  dropped  in  this  way.  It  was  an  attack  upon  their 
religious  liberty  as  they  deemed  it  and  they  sent  a  formal 
protest  to  the  governor. 

"  There  is  no  people  more  willing  than  the  Friends  to  pay 
all  due  regards  to  their  superiors,  to  offer  all  honor  to  the 
courts  of  justice,  and  in  every  way  consistent  with  their  re- 
ligious persuasions  to  pay  all  deference  to  their  government 
and  king;  but  when  our  conception  of  an  individual's  per- 
sonal liberty  is  trespassed  upon,  we  have  openly  and  firmly 
borne  our  testimony  against  it  in  all  countries  and  places 
where  our  lots  have  fallen." 


158     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Keith  was  a  politic  man  determined  to  get  along  with 
every  one.  He  could  not  afford  to  contest  a  little  point 
like  this  with  a  people  so  strong  in  numbers  and  in  influence 
as  the  Friends  then  were  and  the  following  entry  is  found 
in  the  records  of  the  court. 

"  On  consideration  of  the  humble  address  presented  to 
the  Governor  this  day,  read  in  open  court,  from  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  for  the  city  and 
county  of  Philadelphia,  it  is  ordered  that  the  said  address 
be  filed  with  the  register,  and  that  it  be  made  a  standing 
rule  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  for  the  Province  of  Penn- 
sylvania, in  all  time  to  come,  that  any  person  whatsoever, 
professing  himself  to  be  one  of  the  people  called  Quakers, 
may  and  shall  be  admitted,  if  they  think  fit,  to  speak,  or 
otherwise  officiate,  and  apply  themselves  decently  unto  the 
said  courts  without  being  obliged  to  observe  the  usual  cere- 
mony of  uncovering  their  heads,  by  having  their  hats  taken 
off;  and  such  privilege  hereby  ordered  and  granted  the 
people  called  Quakers  shall  at  no  time  hereafter  be  under- 
stood or  interpreted  as  any  contempt  or  neglect  of  the  said 
court,  but  shall  be  taken  only  as  an  act  of  conscientious 
liberty,  of  right  appertaining  to  the  religious  persuasion  of 
the  said  people,  and  agreeable  to  their  practices  in  all  the 
civil  affairs  of  life." 

To  understand  why  the  good  Friends  of  the  day  made  so 
much  of  this  question  of  the  hat,  we  must  know  the  condi- 
tions of  the  times.  During  the  17th  century  men  were  ac- 
customed to  wear  a  head  covering  in  the  house  as  well  as 
outside.  They  took  it  off  only  as  an  honor  accorded  to  per- 
sons in  superior  station,  and  expected  those  of  lower  rank 
to  take  theirs  off  to  themselves.  The  regicide  judges  re- 
fused to  uncover  their  heads  when  they  tried  King  Charles 
and  of  course  he  refused  to  recognize  their  standing  by  un- 
covering his.  A  century  later  at  the  outbreak  of  the  French 
Revolution  the  popular  Assembly  insisted  on  wearing  their 
hats  in  the  presence  of  the  nobility,  as  a  testimony  to  their 


JOHN   KINSEY  159 

equality.  The  sturdy  Puritanism  of  the  early  Friends  dis- 
posed of  the  matter  once  for  all,  by  uncovering  to  no  one 
save  God,  neither  to  King  nor  Magistrate,  Priest  nor  Judge. 
Bitterly  they  suffered  for  this  testimony  to  democracy. 
They  went  to  jail  for  months  at  the  command  of  angry 
judges.  William  Penn  wore  his  hat  before  King  Charles  II 
and  the  pleasant  monarch,  remarking  that  it  was  not  cus- 
tomary in  that  presence  for  more  than  one  to  remain  cov- 
ered, took  off  his  own.  Under  all  circumstances  they  stood 
by  their  convictions,  taking  all  that  came  of  imprisonment, 
contempt  or  ridicule. 

It  was  in  1725  too  near  this  time  for  the  cause  to  be  given 
away  in  a  Quaker  Province,  governed  by  the  sons  of  those 
who  had  suffered  in  England  and  the  meetings  unanimously 
accepted  the  challenge.  Afterwards  no  Quaker  lawyer  or 
witness  was  required  to  remove  his  hat  during  colonial  days. 

John  Kinsey  moved  to  Philadelphia  in  1730  at  the  age 
of  37  and  the  same  year  was  made  clerk  of  Philadelphia 
Yearly  Meeting.  He  was  the  strong  and  useful  man  of 
the  body  and  held  the  place  till  his  death  20  years  later. 

The  records  of  the  meeting  for  these  twenty  years  are 
full  of  John  Kinsey's  work.  His  name  was  scarcely  ever 
absent  from  any  important  committee.  The  literary  work 
of  Friends  of  this  time,  including  the  London  Epistles,  the 
collection  of  minutes  for  the  new  discipline,  the  epistles  to 
subordinate  meetings,  was  very  largely  done  by  him.  Dur- 
ing most  of  the  time  he  was  engaged  in  gathering  materials 
for  writing  a  history  of  the  early  days  of  the  province,  which 
material  afterwards  passed  into  the  hands  of  Samuel  Smith. 
He  was  the  medium  through  whom  the  decisions  of  the 
meeting  were  conveyed  to  the  public,  as,  note  for  instance, 
the  following  minute  of  1738: 

"  John  Kinsey  was  ordered  to  draw  an  advertisement  to 
be  printed  in  the  newspapers  of  Philadelphia,  in  order  to 


i6o     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

inform  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  the  book  lately  pub- 
lished by  Benjamin  Lay  was  not  published  by  approbation 
of  Friends;  that  he  is  not  in  unity  with  us,  and  that  his  book 
contains  false  charges  as  well  against  particular  persons  of 
our  Society  as  against  Friends  in  general," 

Equally  prompt  was  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  to  demand 
his  services.  On  the  20th  of  January,  1731,  the  sheriff 
asked  admittance  to  the  Assembly  with  the  message:  "  In 
pursuance  of  a  writ  of  the  said  sheriff,  directed  by  the 
honorable  the  governor  of  the  Province,  John  Kinsey,  Gen- 
tleman, the  day  and  year  above  mentioned  was  elected  a 
representative  in  the  Legislature  to  serve  in  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania  this  present  year,  in  room  of  David 
Potts,^  lately  deceased."  On  the  next  day  John  Kinsey  took 
his  seat  which  he  held,  with  one  slight  intermission,  to  his 
death  and  after  1739  was  Speaker. 

As  wdth  the  Meeting  so  with  the  Legislature  John  Kinsey 
immediately  became  the  important  member,  drawing  up 
bills  and  addresses  to  the  Governor,  acting  on  committees, 
as  trustee  of  public  funds  and  real  estate,  as  witness  that  the 
great  seal  was  properly  attached  to  laws  and  wherever  good 
sense  and  legal  training  could  serve  the  public  interests. 
For  several  years  he  was  in  addition  Attorney-General  of 
the  Province. 

-,  So  matters  went  on  till  1739  when  Andrew  Hamilton  re- 
signed the  Speakership,  tired  of  its  responsibilities  and 
duties,  and  his  faithful  and  unrewarded  attention  to  the 
building  of  the  State  House.  He  had  handed  in  his  final 
accounts,  and  made  his  great  farewell  speech,  perhaps  the 
best  resume  of  Pennsylvania  Colonial  conditions  ever  given. 
There  was  no  doubt  that  John  Kinsey  should  be  his  suc- 
cessor. 

^  David  Potts  was  a  Friend  and  an  ancestor  of  Theodore  Roose- 
velt. 


I 


JOHN   KINSEY  l6i 

On  October  15,  1739  the  Assembly  met  and  "  by  a  major- 
ity vote  "  made  John  Kinsey  Speaker.  The  same  day  they 
presented  him  to  the  Governor,  George  Thomas,  an  ap- 
pointee of  the  Penn  Family,  who  expressed  in  the  formal 
way  his  satisfaction  with  their  choice.  He  then  made  the 
usual  requests  of  the  Governor  "  that  the  House  might  have 
ready  access  to  him  at  all  reasonable  times  when  the  public 
business  should  require  it:  that  they  might  enjoy  freedom 
of  speech  in  all  their  propositions  and  debates:  that  the 
members  might  be  exempted  from  arrest  during  the  sittings 
of  the  Assembly:  that  the  Governor  should  give  no  ear  to 
reports  touching  debates  in  the  House  till  matters  debated 
on  passed  into  resolves;  and  that  the  Speaker's  inadvertent 
mistakes  might  be  excused.  All  of  which  he  had  requested 
as  the  just  rights  of  the  Freemen  of  Pennsylvania:  and  the 
Governor  was  pleased  to  assure  the  House  that  they  should 
be  protected  in  the  full  use  and  exercise  of  the  same." 

This  little  list  of  legislative  privileges  represented  the 
gains  made  in  the  years  by  the  Quaker  Assembly,  in  secur- 
ing the  independence  of  the  people's  representatives  from 
encroachment  of  the  Proprietors  and  Governor.  They  were 
not  likely  to  lose  any  of  it  under  John  Kinsey 's  vigorous 
leadership. 

While  they  did  not  know  it  at  the  time  the  easy  days  of 
Quaker  control  were  about  at  an  end.  They  were  to  struggle 
along  in  the  midst  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  for  some  sev- 
enteen years  longer,  but  against  an  ever  increasing  opposi- 
tion from  the  Proprietors  on  one  side  and  the  militant  portion 
of  the  population  on  the  other.  While  John  Kinsey  was 
alive  they  fought  the  battle  successfully  in  the  legislative 
halls  and  at  the  polls.  The  contest  began  on  the  day  fol- 
lowing the  choice  of  John  Kinsey  as  Speaker. 

About  the  same  time  that  John  Kinsey  took  up  the 
Speakership,  George  Thomas  was  made  Lieutenant-Gov- 


i62     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ernor  under  the  Penns.  He  knew  very  little  about  the  char- 
acter of  the  people  whom  he  came  from  the  West  Indies  to 
govern,  but  he  was  a  man  of  ability  and  resources.  If  he 
had  been  appointed  a  few  years  earlier  in  the  times  of  peace 
he  might  have  quietly  adjusted  himself  to  the  conditions; 
but,  unfortunately,  Spain  and  England,  as  a  result  of  differ- 
ences centering  in  the  West  Indies,  concluded  to  have  a  war, 
and  Thomas  was  keen  to  support  his  royal  master.  The 
two  men,  Kinsey  and  Thomas,  were  pitted  against  each 
other  as  the  leaders  of  the  contest  which  was  to  follow. 
Whether  we  consider  skill  in  disputations  or  in  political 
management,  the  end  of  the  struggle  did  not  find  the  Quaker 
leader  at  any  disadvantage. 

The  contest  began  when,  in  October,  1739,  Governor 
Thomas  sent  a  message  to  the  Assembly,  suggesting  that 
they  make  an  appropriation  to  protect  the  province  against 
attack  and  assist  the  king.  The  Assembly  took  the  mat- 
ter into  serious  consideration,  and  explained  in  a  some- 
what lengthy  preface  that  they  were  all  loyal  subjects,  lov- 
ers of  religious  liberty,  and  that  one  of  the  principal  motives 
which  had  brought  them  and  their  ancestors  to  the  Province 
was  the  full  enjoyment  of  liberty  of  conscience  which  was 
granted  to  them  by  their  great  charter,  and  which  the  pro- 
prietor had  pledged  himself  and  his  successors  "  according 
to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  thereof,  should  be  kept  and 
remain  without  any  alterations  inviolably  forever."  And 
then  they  add,  "  It  is  not  unknown  most  of  them  were  of 
the  people  called  Quakers,  and  principaled  against  bearing 
arms  in  any  case  whatsoever."  They  admit  that  the  cir- 
cumstances have  changed,  and  that  a  great  many  who  have 
come  in  since  think  it  to  be  their  duty  to  fight  in  defense  of 
their  country,  families  and  estates.  These  also  have  the 
same  right  of  liberty  of  conscience  with  themselves.  They 
do  not  condemn  the  use  of  arms  in  others,  but  they  ob- 


JOHN   KINSEY  163 

ject  to  any  law  which  would  compel  a  man  to  bear  arms 
against  his  conscience;  and  they  add  that  a  law  which 
forces  other  people  to  bear  arms  and  relieves  the  Quakers 
would  be  inconsistent  and  partial.  Then  they  make  a  sug- 
gestion to  the  Governor,  which,  if  he  had  been  wise,  he  would 
have  adopted  and  dropped  the  matter.  They  point  out  that 
the  Charter  gave  him  ample  authority  to  raise  a  troop  him- 
self, and  that  they  did  not  propose  to  interfere  with  his  ac- 
tions in  this  respect,  provided  he  did  not  trample  upon  any- 
one's conscience.  The  clause  of  the  Charter  granting  this 
authority,  which  William  Penn  accepted,  it  may  be  inter- 
esting to  note : 

"  To  the  Proprietor  aforesaid,  his  Heirs  and  Assigns,  by 
themselves  or  their  Captains,  or  other  of  their  Officers,  to 
levy,  muster,  and  train  all  sorts  of  Men  of  what  Condition 
soever  or  wheresoever  born  in  the  said  Province  of  Penn- 
sylvania for  the  time  being,  and  to  make  Warr  and  to  pur- 
sue the  Enemies  and  Robbrs  aforesaid  as  well  by  Sea  as  by 
Land,  even  without  the  Limits  of  the  said  Province,  and  by 
God's  Assistance  to  vanquish  and  take  them,  and  being 
taken  to  put  them  to  Death  by  the  Law  of  Warr,  or  to  save 
them  at  their  Pleasure;  and  to  do  all,  and  every  other  thing 
which  unto  the  Charge  and  Office  of  a  Captain  General  of 
an  Army  belongeth,  or  hath  accustomed  to  belong,  as  fully 
and  freely  as  any  Captain  General  of  an  Army  hath  ever 
had  the  same." 

They  wound  up  their  address  by  the  pious  reflection: 

"  Not  doubting  but  that  Wee  shall  share  in  that  Protec- 
tion Our  Gracious  Sovereign  denys  not  even  to  the  meanest 
of  his  Subjects;  And  having  at  the  same  time  a  due  de- 
pendence on  that  Power  which  not  only  calms  the  raging 
Waves  of  the  Sea,  but  sets  Limits  beyond  which  they  can- 
not pass;  And  remembering  the  Words  of  the  sacred  Text, 
That '  Except  the  Lord  keep  the  City  the  Watchman  waketh 
but  in  vain.'  " 


i64     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

We  find  in  this  paper  several  interesting  indications  of 
the  state  of  feeling  among  Friends  on  the  subject  of  war  at 
this  date.  One  was  that  they  were  unequivocally  opposed 
to  all  war  under  all  circumstances;  another,  that  they  had 
no  words  of  condemnation  for  those  who  from  good  motives 
thought  and  acted  differently,  and  thirdly,  that  if  they  did 
their  duty  their  reliance  was  upon  a  divine  Providence  who 
would  order  the  matter  aright. 

The  Governor  was  not  disposed  to  recede  from  the  con- 
test. In  an  epistle  equally  lengthy  he  called  their  attention 
to  the  fact  that  they  were  representatives  of  the  whole 
people;  that  he  had  no  right  to  look  into  their  personal  re- 
ligious persuasions,  but  that  it  was  their  duty  as  representa- 
tives to  protect  a  rich  Province  from  invaders.  He  did  not 
wish  to  infringe  any  of  their  consciences,  nor  to  introduce 
persecution,  for  he  himself  was  a  great  friend  of  liberty. 
"  But,"  he  said,  "  as  the  world  is  now  circumstanced,  no 
purity  of  heart  or  set  of  religious  principles  will  protect  us 
from  the  enemy."  The  Assembly  had  recognized  this  in 
the  institution  of  courts  and  juries.  He  told  them  that  they 
would  condemn  "  little  rogues  "  to  death  for  breaking  into 
their  houses  and  yet  they  would  not  use  similar  means  on  a 
larger  scale  for  meeting  the  more  organized  attacks  upon 
their  property.  He  had  not  been  unaware  of  the  privileges 
granted  to  him  by  the  Charter,  and  the  very  fact  that  Wil- 
liam Penn  was  willing  to  accept  the  powers  of  a  Captain- 
General  under  this  Charter  indicated  his  opinions  as  to  the 
necessity  of  bearing  arms  in  defense  of  his  government. 
Then  he  puts  in  a  little  attack  at  their  trusting  in  Provi- 
dence and  unwillingness  to  exert  themselves.    He  says: 

"  Every  Man  that  acknowledges  the  Superintendence  of 
one  Supreme  Being  in  the  Affairs  of  the  World,  must  be  sen- 
sible that  without  His  Blessing  all  we  do  will  come  to  noth- 
ing; and  yet  we  build,  we  plant,  we  sow,  and  we  send  Ships 


JOHN   KINSEY  165 

to  Sea,  concluding  that  these  are  necessary  means  for 
accomplishing  the  Ends  desired.  But  that  we  should  do 
all  these,  and  at  the  same  time  expect  that  God  shall  fight 
our  Battles,  without  preparing  ourselves  the  necessary 
means  for  our  Defence,  I  confess  can  be  no  more  recon- 
ciled to  my  understanding  than  that  Because  the  Lord  stills 
the  raging  Waves  of  the  Sea,  the  Seaman  may  therefore 
leave  the  Sails  of  the  Ship  standing,  and  go  to  sleep  in  a 
storm;  Or  that  Watchmen  are  therefore  unnecessary,  be- 
cause Except  the  Lord  keep  the  City  the  Watchmen  waketh 
but  in  vain." 

The  Assembly  returned  to  the  attack,  and  article  by  ar- 
ticle, replied  to  the  Governor's  address.  They  showed  that 
their  position  inland  from  the  sea,  protected  by  friendly 
colonies  to  the  north,  east  and  south,  made  them  in  no  dan- 
ger of  being  attacked.  Consequently  the  Governor's  argu- 
ment for  the  need  of  defense  had  no  bearing  on  the  case. 
They  will  not  admit  the  justice  of  the  comparison  between 
the  "  little  rogue  "  and  the  "  great  invaders."  Their  argu- 
ment is  this: 

"  And  yet  it  is  Easy  to  discover  the  Difference  between 
killing  a  Soldier,  fighting  (perhaps)  in  Obedience  to  the 
Commands  of  his  Sovereign,  and  who  may,  possibly,  think 
himself  in  the  Discharge  of  his  Duty,  and  executing  a 
Burglar  who  broke  into  our  House,  plundered  us  of  our 
Goods,  and  perhaps  would  have  murdered  too,  if  he  could 
not  otherwise  have  accomplished  his  Ends,  who  must  know 
at  the  Time  of  the  Commission  of  the  Fact,  It  was  a  viola- 
tion of  Laws  human  and  divine,  and  that  he  thereby  justly 
rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the  Punishment  which  en- 
sued." 

They  would  evidently  have  made  a  stronger  case  if  their 
attitude  toward  capital  punishment  had  permitted  them  to 
say  something  more  of  the  sacredness  of  human  life;  but, 
having  just  enacted  laws  inflicting  the  penalty  of  death  for 
burglary,  rape,  counterfeiting  and  other  crimes,  they  could 


.       IL. 

i66     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

hardly  say  that  they  had  any  objection  to  the  taking  of  life 
per  se.  They  believe,  however,  that  an  Almighty  Power 
does  superintend  the  government  of  the  world,  and  that  He 
will  protect  the  principles  of  religion  which  are  agreeable  to 
His  will.  As  to  William  Penn's  being  a  believer  in  war,  they 
state,  with  some  sarcasm,  that  they  probably  know  as  much 
about  his  opinions  as  the  Governor  does.  They  say,  "  he 
not  only  professed  himself  a  Quaker,  and  wrote  in  their  fa- 
vor, but  particularly  against  war  and  fighting."  As  to  the 
comparison  between  the  preparation  for  storms  at  sea  and 
harvests  on  land,  and  self-defense  in  the  time  of  danger, 
their  argument  is: 

"  By  a  law  almost  as  old  as  the  Creation,  Building,  Plant- 
ing, Sowing,  and  other  parts  of  Agriculture  became  neces- 
sary for  the  Sustenance  of  Life ;  And  so  to  those  who  would 
traffick  in  Parts  beyond  the  Seas,  Ships  and  Seamen  were 
requisite ;  the  Nature  of  whose  undertaking  obliged  them  to 
Industry  in  discharge  of  their  Duty  as  well  as  for  their  own 
Safety,  and  not  attended  with  any  Injury  to  others;  But 
because  we  may  lawfully  build,  plant,  sow,  or  send  Ships 
to  Sea,  or  that  because  it  is  necessary  for  Seamen  to  take 
care  of  a  Ship  in  a  storm,  that  therefore  it  is  not  inconsist- 
ent with  Christianity  to  defend  ourselves  at  the  Expense  of 
the  Lives  of  our  Fellow-Creatures,  tho'  our  Enemies,  is  not 
equally  evident  to  us;  And  yet  if  others  think  the  Argu- 
ments forcible,  such  have  their  Liberty." 

The  Governor,  in  a  couple  of  days,  returned  to  the  attack. 
He  reproved  them  for  their  acrimony,  which,  he  says,  he 
little  expected  from  men  of  their  principles,  and  declares 
he  will  not  engage  in  the  discussion  in  that  spirit.  He 
thanks  them  sarcastically  for  their  description  of  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  Province,  which  he  intimates  he  is  not  en- 
tirely unacquainted  with.  And  then  he  again  takes  up  the 
question  of  the  burglar  where  he  evidently  thinks  he  has  a 
point: 


JOHN   KINSEY  167 

"  If  a  Burglar  acts  contrary  to  the  Laws  of  Christianity 
and  of  the  land  in  breaking  open  your  Houses,  and  by  those 
Laws  you  are  justified  in  putting  him  to  Death;  and  if  a 
soldier  acts  contrary  to  the  Laws  of  Christianity  (as  he  does 
according  to  your  own  principles)  and  the  Laws  of  Nations, 
in  plundering  your  Houses  and  murdering  your  Families,  it 
will  be  difficult  to  shew  why  you  may  not  as  justly  put  the 
latter  to  Death  as  the  former.  The  Will  of  the  Prince,  or 
the  mistake  of  the  Soldier,  can  have  nothing  to  do  in  de- 
termining the  moral  Good  or  Evil  of  the  Action." 

He  points  to  their  early  appropriation  of  money  for  the 
King's  use  in  manifest  response  to  a  demand  for  war  funds, 
and  admitting  that  he  does  not  know  very  much  about  Wil- 
liam Penn's  writings,  he  adds: 

"  As  Actions  are  the  best  Evidences  of  a  Man's  Thoughts, 
your  first  Proprietor's  acceptance  of  a  Military  Charge,  his 
devolving  it  upon  his  Lieutenants,  and  his  Commission  to 
a  Person  to  command  a  Fort  at  Newcastle,  which  I  have 
under  his  own  Hand  writing,  are  sufficient  Proofs  to  me  of 
his  Opinion;  and  tho'  I  have  a  very  high  Regard  for  that 
Gentleman's  character,  render  it  altogether  unnecessary  to 
examine  his  Writings,  if  he  has  wrote  on  that  subject." 

He  replies  in  conclusion: 

"  For  I  believe  it  will  be  still  thought  as  little  consistent 
with  reason  to  expect  we  shall  be  protected  from  an  enemy 
without  preparing  the  necessary  Means  for  Defence,  as  it 
would  be  to  expect  Grain  without  Sowing  or  Fruit  without 
Planting,  and  so  in  other  Instances." 

The  Assembly  contented  itself  with  a  general  reply  to 
this,  stating  that  they  had  no  delight  in  controversy;  that 
they  did  not  believe  the  Province  was  in  danger;  that  the 
early  appropriations  of  money  for  warlike  purposes  did  not 
prove  their  utility ;  that  they  were  steadfastly  loyal  to  King 
George,  and  that  on  the  basis  of  these  well-known  principles 


i68     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

had  always  enjoyed  the  protection  of  the  Crown,  and  that 
the  Province  would  receive  no  ill  effects  from  their  lack  of 
legislation. 

In  the  main  their  argument  was  that  fighting  being  im- 
moral in  itself  was  very  unlike  the  preparation  for  a  storm 
at  sea  and  that  they  could  not  do  it  even  for  a  good  cause. 

Then  the  Governor  replies  in  a  final  argument,  and  asks 
the  question  which  has  never  been  answered:  "  If  your  prin- 
ciples will  not  allow  you  to  pass  a  bill  for  establishing  a 
militia,  if  they  will  not  allow  you  to  secure  the  navigation  of 
a  river  by  building  a  fort,  if  they  will  not  allow  you  to  pro- 
vide armies  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants,  if  they  will 
not  allow  you  to  raise  men  for  his  Majesty's  service  for  dis- 
tressing an  insolent  enemy,  is  it  calumny  to  say  your  prin- 
ciples are  inconsistent  with  the  ends  of  government?  " 

There  was  a  veiled  irony  in  many  of  the  Assembly's  replies 
which  presumably  came  from  the  pen  of  John  Kinsey,  and 
which  delighted  the  men  who,  in  the  coffee-houses  of  Phila- 
delphia, followed  the  controversy  with  great  interest  —  as, 
for  instance,  when  they  said  that  the  Province  had  pros- 
pered under  the  Quaker  management  before  Governor 
Thomas  had  anything  to  do  with  it,  and  probably  would 
in  the  future ;  "  though  some  Governors  have  been  as  uneasy 
and  as  willing  and  as  ready  to  find  fault  and  suggest  dan- 
gers as  himself."  Or  again,  as  the  election  approached,  "  If 
we  have  committed  any  mistakes,  the  time  draws  near  in 
which  our  constituents,  if  they  think  it  necessary,  may 
amend  their  choice,  and  the  time  also  draws  nigh  in  which 
your  (councillors'  and  governor's)  mistakes  may  be 
amended  by  a  succeeding  Governor.  Permit  us  to  con- 
gratulate our  country  on  both." 

During  the  course  of  the  controversy,  parties  were  grad- 
ually forming,  and  this  thrust  and  counterthrust  of  argu- 
ments were  simply  appeals  to  the  constituents;  for  there 


JOHN  KINSEY  169 

were  no  editorial  comments  in  the  scanty  papers  of  those 
days  by  which  public  opinion  was  influenced.  The  argu- 
ments were  passed  around  by  word  of  mouth  or  by  written 
manuscript,  and  in  many  a  coffee  house  or  country  tavern, 
and  doubtless  also  on  the  steps  of  the  meeting  houses  after 
the  assembly  was  dismissed,  they  were  repeated  and  illus- 
trated with  ever-increasing  emphasis. 

That  the  Governor's  threat  to  drive  Friends  from  the  As- 
sembly was  not  purely  an  empty  one,  is  shown  by  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  the  English  Government,  considerably 
misrepresenting  the  situation,  and  recommending  that  all 
Quakers  be  made  ineligible  to  official  situations.  This  was 
intended  to  be  private,  but  a  friend  of  the  Assembly  got 
possession  of  it  in  England,  and  sent  a  copy  to  Philadelphia. 
Great  was  the  wrath  of  the  men  who  for  half  a  century  had 
felt  themselves  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  affairs,  and 
under  whose  management  had  developed  the  most  thriving 
Province  of  the  new  world. 

The  "  Gentlemen's  Party,"  which  was  the  title  that  the 
Governor's  friends  took  to  themselves,  also  girded  themselves 
for  the  contest,  and  in  the  fall  election  of  1742  there  was 
a  great  street  fight  in  Philadelphia,  the  actual  participants 
of  which  were  a  number  of  sailors  for  the  Gentlemen's  Party 
and  a  bunch  of  hard-fisted  Germans  for  the  Quakers.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  add  that  the  Quakers  triumphed  both  in  the 
street  contest  and  at  the  polls,  and  rather  increased  than 
diminished  their  great  majority  in  the  Assembly. 

They  also  struck  the  Governor  at  another  point.  He  was 
promised  a  salary  by  the  Penns,  whose  agent  he  was,  but 
this  salary  had  to  be  voted  by  the  Assembly.  During  the 
stringency  of  the  contest  the  Assembly  always  forgot  to  place 
such  an  item  in  their  appropriation  bills,  and  for  several 
years  he  nursed  his  wrath  in  poverty.  But  being  now  beaten 
at  the  polls,  he  showed  signs  of  yielding.    He  signed  a  bill 


170     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

which  he  had  hitherto  opposed,  and  a  little  salary  was 
granted  him.  He  signed  another  and  the  Assembly  began  to 
feel  still  more  generous.  Finally  he  gave  way  altogether, 
and  all  his  arrears  were  paid.  He  got  along  very  pleasantly 
with  the  Assembly  during  the  rest  of  his  official  career.  He 
was  completely  tamed. 

The  net  results  of  the  contest  were  a  large  increase  of  lib- 
erty for  the  people  of  Pennsylvania;  the  perfect  mainte- 
nance of  their  anti-martial  principles;  the  defeat  of  the 
Gentleman's  Party  at  their  own  political  game;  the  increas- 
ing strength  among  the  people  of  the  Quaker  leaders  in  gov- 
ernment; the  triumph  of  economy  and  simplicity  in  the 
management  of  public  affairs.  John  Kinsey's  letters,  full 
on  the  one  hand  of  pious  reflection,  and  on  the  other,  of 
adroit  political  argument,  had  carried  the  day.  The  "  Coun- 
try Party,"  as  his  friends  were  generally  called,  had  become 
supreme.  One  by  one  the  claims  of  the  proprietors  —  who 
were  now  farming  Pennsylvania  for  what  they  could  get 
from  it,  in  a  very  different  spirit  from  that  of  their  high- 
minded  father  —  were  cut  down.  The  possibility  of  gaining 
political  ends  without  the  sacrifice  of  principles  was  begin- 
ning to  answer  the  taunt  of  Governor  Thomas  that  their 
theories  were  inconsistent  with  government.  In  1747  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  writes  of  the  Friends  as  "  that  wealthy  and 
powerful  body  of  people  who  have  ever  since  the  war  gov- 
erned our  elections  and  filled  almost  every  seat  in  the  As- 
sembly." Evidently  they  were  good  politicians,  and  the 
contest  with  the  Governor  had  resulted  in  a  strengthening  of 
their  lines. 

The  Spanish  War  did  not  last  long,  but  others  came.  The 
Governor  used  his  authority  as  Captain-General  to  organ- 
ize a  voluntary  force  said  by  Franklin  to  consist  of  10,000 
men.  On  this  the  Assembly  took  no  action.  The  Assembly 
frequently  reminded  the  Governor  that  they  were  unable  to 


JOHN   KINSEY  171 

vote  any  money  for  warlike  purposes,  and  personally  would 
contribute  nothing  in  the  way  of  service,  but  that  they  were 
loyal  subjects  of  the  King  and  acknowledged  their  obliga- 
tions to  aid  in  his  government.  The  effect  of  this  course  was 
to  save  their  fellow-members  in  the  Province  from  compul- 
sory military  service,  and  from  direct  war  taxes.  They 
thus  shielded  the  consciences  of  sensitive  Friends,  preserved 
their  charter  from  Court  attack,  broke  down  the  worst  evils 
of  proprietary  pretensions,  and  secured  large  additions  of 
liberty.  Whether  or  not  the  partial  sacrifice  of  principle, 
if  so  it  was,  was  too  high  a  price  for  these  advantages,  was 
differently  decided  in  those  days,  and  will  be  to-day.  An 
unbending  course  would  have  but  hastened  the  inevitable 
crisis. 

Matters  went  on  in  this  unsettled  way  through  the  re- 
maining years  of  John  Kinsey's  Speakership.  The  As- 
sembly would  appropriate  money  "  for  the  King's  use  "  and 
the  King  through  the  Governor  would  use  it  for  warlike 
purposes,  as  all  taxes  in  all  lands  have  been  used.  If  there 
were  a  direct  tax  asked  for  a  definite  military  purpose  it 
would  be  refused.  Up  to  1750  the  Friends  under  Kinsey's 
leadership  were  reasonably  consistent.  Afterwards  the  dif- 
ficulties increased  and  after  1756  they  gave  it  up  and  re- 
fused membership  in  the  Assembly. 

On  the  death  of  David  Lloyd  in  1731  the  position  of  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  offered  to  Isaac  Norris 
the  elder  who  declined.  James  Logan  was  then  appointed 
and  he  held  the  post  till  1739.  Jeremiah  Langhorne  fol- 
lowed him  till  1743  when  John  Kinsey  was  appointed  and 
with  him  the  line  of  Quaker  Chief  Justices  ended.  There 
is  so  little  one  can  glean  from  the  records  of  the  doings  of 
any  of  these  men  in  this  capacity  that  the  history  of  the 
court  and  the  competency  of  the  Justices  is  largely  a  matter 
of  inference.    Logan  never  had  a  serious  legal  education 


172     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  probably  this  was  not  demanded  by  the  times.  Kinsey 
was  a  lawyer  of  great  learning,  skill  and  probity  and  the 
honor  of  the  court  doubtless  did  not  suffer  in  his  hands. 

During  these  years  he  performed  other  public  services  of 
value.  The  continuous  discussion  with  Maryland  over  the 
Boundary  Line  developed  finally  into  a  "  war."  A  militia 
captain  and  surveyor  in  the  interests  of  Lord  Baltimore  and 
Governor  Ogle  drew  around  him  a  band  of  ruffians  and  in 
1730  made  an  invasion  into  York  County  driving  out  those 
who  claimed  allegiance  to  the  Penn  government.  John  Kin- 
sey and  Samuel  Preston  were  appointed  Commissioners  to 
visit  the  Governor,  asking  that  hostilities  cease  and  that  a 
temporary  arrangement  as  to  citizenship  should  be  made 
pending  a  permanent  settlement.  Some  progress  was  made 
but  the  Maryland  commissioner  got  Governor  Ogle  away 
from  "  the  seductive  influences  of  the  Pennsylvania  Com- 
mission," and  he  left  town  without  notice.  The  Pennsylva- 
nians  came  home  without  accomplishing  anything  definite, 
but  the  "  war  "  did  not  continue  and  the  way  was  cleared  for 
the  future. 

During  the  Speakership  of  John  Kinsey  a  burning  ques- 
tion was  the  issuance  of  Bills  of  Credit  to  be  used  as  money. 
This  was  frowned  upon  by  the  Proprietors  and  by  the  Eng- 
lish government,  but  in  a  new  country  which  imported  so 
much  more  than  it  exported,  the  gold  and  silver  were  drained 
and  the  people  had  to  resort  to  barter,  to  their  great  incon- 
venience. To  meet  this  difficulty  the  Assembly  had  author- 
ized loans  upon  land  and  plate  of  ample  security  and  upon 
this  the  bills  had  been  issued.  They  never  depreciated  and 
this  could  probably  be  said  of  the  paper  money  of  no  other 
colony.  The  land  was  rising  in  value  and  when  orders 
came  to  call  in  the  bills  and  Governor  Thomas  presented 
the  directions  to  a  special  session  of  the  Assembly  there  was 
universal  disapproval.     They  refused  to  withdraw  the  bills 


JOHN  KINSEY  173 

already  out  and  insisted  on  reissuing  them  when  matured. 
To  issue  such  bills  was  the  popular  method  of  raising 
revenue  for  the  Province,  and  tho  in  general  this  was  a  dan- 
gerous policy,  it  was  so  carefully  guarded  that  it  worked 
well  in  Pennsylvania.  John  Kinsey  was  the  great  defender 
of  the  issue  and  was  for  a  long  time  a  Trustee  of  the  Loan 
Office  which  had  charge  of  it. 

His  contest  in  this  matter  and  his  efforts  to  avert  war, 
made  him  popular  in  the  province,  not  only  among  the 
Friends  and  their  close  supporters  but  also  among  the  great 
mass  of  German  voters.  In  a  community  with  only  a  few 
Friends  these  voters  would  often  select  one  as  their  repre- 
sentative and  the  Friends  always  had  a  three-fourths  ma- 
jority in  the  legislature.  In  1741  in  the  midst  of  the  con- 
troversy with  Governor  Thomas,  a  serious  effort  was  made 
to  divert  these  German  voters  from  the  Quaker  alliance. 
Conrad  Weiser  the  Indian  interpreter,  a  man  of  great  and 
deserved  influence  among  them,  wrote  a  serious  address 
telling  them  how  deficient  the  Friends  were  in  their  "render- 
ing tribute  to  Caesar  "  and  asked  them  to  send  in  men  who 
would  do  as  the  Governor  wanted.  The  letter  was  widely 
circulated  but  Kinsey's  hold  was  unshaken  and  the  Ger- 
mans stood  faithfully  by  their  old  friends. 

The  dispute  between  the  Governor,  representing  the  Pro- 
prietors, and  the  Assembly  became  in  time  very  complicated. 
The  Governor  wanted  money  for  war  with  the  French  and 
Indians.  The  Assembly  refused.  He  wanted  any  money 
"  for  the  King's  use  "  raised  by  taxes.  They  demanded 
Bills  of  Credit.  He  wanted  the  Proprietors'  property  ex- 
cluded from  all  taxation.  They  insisted  that  such  property 
should  stand  with  others.  He  wanted  his  salary.  They  de- 
clined to  vote  it  while  he  was  unsatisfactory  to  them.  They 
demanded  a  knowledge  of  his  instructions  for  they  were 
tired  of  working  in  the  dark.    He  declined  to  show  them. 


174     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

They  wanted  to  have  complete  political  rights  even  though 
they  would  not  swear  or  fight.  He  insisted  that  such  prin- 
ciples were  subversive  of  government.  They  demanded 
pay  to  the  masters  for  the  indentured  servants  who  had 
joined  the  militia  without  serving  their  full  time.  He 
balked  seriously  at  the  suggestion.  Through  this  complex 
maze  of  difiicult  problems,  John  Kinsey  steered  his  party 
wisely,  unitedly  and  victoriously. 

John  Kinsey  had  his  share  in  making  the  honorable  his- 
tory of  the  treatment  of  the  Indians  by  the  Friends  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  days  of  trustfulness  by  the  red  men  were 
over.  They  had  seen  too  much  of  the  vices  and  greed  of 
the  settlers  to  repose  entire  confidence  in  them.  They  had 
learned  too  that  there  were  two  tribes  of  white  men,  the 
French  and  the  English  who  were  eagerly  bidding  for  their 
friendship.  They  were  inclined  to  keep  peace  with  their 
neighbors  of  the  Province  and  good  treatment  would  cement 
this  inclination  into  an  indissoluble  bond.  The  Quaker 
Assembly  voted  willingly  large  appropriations  for  Indian 
presents.  It  meant  also  not  to  allow  settlers  on  their  lands, 
and  to  keep  fire-water  from  them.  But  the  Penns  and  the 
Governor  wanted  their  land  for  sale  to  settlers  and  cheated 
and  debauched  the  Indians  to  secure  some  infamous  titles. 
The  iniquitous  "  Walking  Purchase  "  of  1737  and  the  en- 
forced banishment  of  the  Minisink  Indians  from  their  an- 
cestral home  in  the  "  Forks  of  the  Delaware  "  gave  a  very 
ugly  complexion  to  Indian  attitude.  Had  the  Quaker  As- 
sembly had  their  way,  the  desolating  wars  preceding  the 
Revolution  would  have  almost  certainly  been  avoided  and 
the  seventy  years  of  peace  been  extended  by  twenty  more. 

It  would  have  been  better  for  the  Indians  if  a  white  man 
had  never  set  foot  upon  the  Province.  Their  conversion  to 
Christianity,  which  had  been  cherished  by  Penn  and  his 
friends  as  a  solution  of  the  race  question  had  practically 


JOHN   KINSEY  175 

been  abandoned.  It  was  better  to  feed  them  than  to  fight 
them  but  white  avarice  and  white  disease  were  fast  demor- 
alizing them.  They  had  not  learned  to  take  kindly  to  reser- 
vations, and  were  powerless  against  the  oncoming  flood  of 
settlers.  The  Quaker  policy  would  have  purchased  their 
land  piecemeal  in  advance  of  occupation,  and  paid  them 
enough  to  satisfy  them,  or  if  they  refused  to  sell  would  have 
kept  the  whites  off  the  land.  But  the  land  belonged  to  the 
Proprietors,  who  had  none  of  the  broad-minded  philan- 
thropy of  their  father,  and  it  was  necessary  to  patch  up  the 
holes  made  by  their  short-sighted  diplomacy  in  the  Indian 
relations. 

Their  arrangements  had  been  almost  wholly  with  the 
Algonquin  tribes  of  the  Province.  But  about  the  time  of 
John  Kinsey's  prominence  it  became  evident  that  the  Iro- 
quois of  New  York  were  to  become  a  factor  in  affairs.  They 
claimed  the  sovereignty  over  the  Pennsylvania  Indians, 
were  sworn  friends  of  the  whites  and  had  resisted  both  the 
force  and  the  bribes  of  the  French.  They  had  saved  New 
York  from  an  invasion  from  Canada,  and  all  the  colonies 
looked  upon  them  with  hope  as  a  bulwark  against  French 
aggression.  They  must  be  liberally  supplied  with  every- 
thing the  Indian  heart  could  desire.  Conrad  Weiser  and  the 
Governor  hoped  also  that  they  could  be  persuaded  to  take 
French  scalps  in  the  lake  region. 

The  first  part  of  the  policy  was  acceptable  to  the  As- 
sembly but  they  would  not  countenance  war  measures.  In 
response  to  a  request  to  furnish  funds  the  Assembly  replied: 
"  The  Governor  must  be  sensible  that  men  of  our  peace- 
able principles  cannot  consistently  therewith  join  in  per- 
suading the  Indians  to  engage  in  the  war.  If  it  be  thought 
there  be  any  real  danger  of  the  Indians  deserting  the  British 
interests  and  going  over  to  the  French,  and  that  to  preserve 
them  steady  in  their  friendship  further  presents  are  neces- 


If 6    POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

sary  to  secure  them  in  their  fidelity  to  the  Crown  of  Great 
Britain  and  amity  with  the  inhabitants  of  this  and  the 
neighboring  Colonies,  and  the  Governor  can  think  his  health 
and  business  will  permit  his  negotiating  this  affair  in  per- 
son, we  shall  be  willing  to  pay  the  expense  to  arise  by  it. 

"  John  Kinsey,  Speaker. 
"Fourth  month  24th,  1746." 

The  Governor  however  preferred  to  send  a  commission  to 
Albany,  with  John  Kinsey  at  its  head,  to  join  with  agents  of 
the  other  colonies  in  arranging  matters  with  the  Six  Nations. 
The  New  Englanders  who  felt  the  brunt  of  French  aggres- 
sion wanted  to  force  the  Iroquois  to  abandon  their  role  of 
friendly  passivity  for  active  warfare  and  in  this  they  were 
encouraged  by  Conrad  Weiser  who  had  gone  along  as  in- 
terpreter. New  York  was  undecided  and  Pennsylvania 
actively  hostile  to  this  policy.  John  Kinsey  argued  that 
Pennsylvania  had  no  interest  in  a  war  and  would  not  sanc- 
tion one  unless  the  legislature  acted  favorably  upon  it; 
that  such  a  war  would  open  hostilities  upon  all  the  colonies ; 
that  other  Indian  tribes  would  be  drawn  in  on  one  side  or 
the  other;  that  if  the  Six  Nations  were  persuaded  to  go  to 
war  by  white  influence  it  would  be  cowardly  to  desert  them, 
and  it  was  quite  uncertain  what  the  legislatures  would  do. 
New  York  seems  to  have  been  won  by  these  arguments  and 
a  divided  conference  did  nothing,  which  is  what  John  Kin- 
sey desired.  He  probably  averted  a  general  war,  or  rather 
postponed  it  for  a  decade. 

John  Kinsey's  useful  life  ended  suddenly  on  May  12th, 
1750,  at  the  age  of  57.  He  had  gone  to  Burlington,  his  old 
home,  to  plead  in  court  and  was  there  seized  with  a  stroke 
of  apoplexy  which  carried  him  off  in  a  few  hours. 

In  John  Smith's  Journal  we  find  this  reference:  "  The  loss 
of  this  great  and  good  man  occasions  a  general  lamentation 


JOHN   KINSEY  177 

and  to  present  appearances  is  irrepairable."  In  a  private 
letter  James  Pemberton  writes:  "  John  Kinsey  was  a  person 
of  no  small  consequence  to  this  province,  being  our  Chief 
Justice,  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  and  in  many  other  public 
posts,  in  all  of  which  he  acquitted  himself  with  an  imblem- 
ished  character,  of  great  skill  in  the  law,  and  was  of  great 
account  in  the  Society,  being  a  person  of  extensive  capacity 
and  completely  qualified  for  a  serviceful  man.  To  the  ir- 
reparable loss  of  the  province  he  died  in  Burlington  in  the 
midst  of  a  cause  he  was  there  pleading.  He  acquired  a 
great  share  of  credit  during  our  contest  some  time  ago 
with  Governor  Thomas."  These  were  the  views  of  Friends, 
and  in  Franklin's  Gazette  of  May  17th,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing: 

"  Friday  last  died  suddenly  in  Burlington  in  New  Jersey, 
the  Honorable  John  Kinsey,  Esquire,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Province  and  Speaker  of  the  General  Assembly.  His  long 
experience  and  great  ability  in  the  management  of  public 
affairs,  his  skill  in  the  laws  and  his  unblemished  integrity 
as  a  Judge,  made  his  life  a  very  valuable  and  useful  one. 
His  death  is  therefore  justly  lamented  as  a  general  loss." 

The  Pennsylvania  Journal  gives  a  more  extended  notice: 

"  On  Friday  last  died  in  an  apoplectic  fit  at  Burlington  in 
the  Colony  of  New  Jersey  that  truly  great  man  John  Kinsey, 
Esquire,  of  this  city,  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  was  de- 
cently interred  here  on  Sunday  last.  Upon  the  death  of  his 
father  who  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
that  Colony,  he  was  though  young  chosen  a  member  and 
Speaker  of  the  House,  where  he  sat  from  his  first  election 
till  the  dissolution  of  the  Assembly  which  happened  some 
years  after  his  coming  to  reside  in  this  place;  when  the 
people  there  very  much  regretted  that  a  law  of  the  Colony 
disabled  persons  not  inhabitants  from  representing  them. 
But  his  great  abilities  and  unshaken  integrity  were  so  con- 
spicuous that  the  freemen  of  this  county  at  the  first  election 
after  the  removal  of  his  family  hither  made  choice  of  him 


178     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

as  one  of  the  representatives  in  the  General  Assembly  of 
this  province  and  continued  him  during  his  life.  He  would 
have  been  immediately  chosen  Speaker  of  our  honorable 
house  but  that  the  chair  was  then  filled  by  a  gentleman  of 
like  abilities  and  public  spirit  whom  they  could  not  over- 
look. But  that  patriot  in  the  year  1738  declining  to  sit 
longer  in  the  house  and  resigning  his  trust  of  Public  Com- 
missioner in  the  Loan  Office,  Mr.  Kinsey  was  fixed  upon  as 
the  most  proper  person  to  succeed  him  in  both  stations  in 
which  he  continued  to  the  time  of  his  decease.  He  was  the 
Corypheus  of  law  in  this  and  adjacent  provinces,  sometimes 
Attorney  General,  and  in  April  1743  to  the  great  joy  of  the 
people  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  province  and  has  ever  since 
sat  in  the  Supreme  Court  with  unrivaled  reputation;  and 
indeed  would  have  filled  with  honor  the  first  seat  of  Justice 
even  in  England.  His  death  gave  a  universal  shock  to  the 
people.  We  may  without  attempting  a  particular  delin- 
eation of  his  character  justly  apply  to  him  what  was  said 
of  the  great  and  good  Sir  Matthew  Hale  in  last  century, 
whose  spirit  he  much  admired.  '  He  was  one  of  the  greatest 
patterns  this  age  has  afforded  whether  in  his  private  de- 
portment as  a  Christian,  or  in  his  public  employments  as  a 
lawyer.  Senator,  judge  or  treasurer.'  So  that  what  Horace 
said  of  his  friend  Quintilius  will  with  propriety  close  the 
article  concerning  our  late  public  friend :  '  Omnibus  ille 
bonis  flebilis  occidit.' " 


When  John  Kinsey  died  the  days  of  real  Quaker  control 
of  the  government  ended.  The  Legislature  remained  theirs 
for  six  years  longer  and  could  have  so  continued  had  they 
not  insisted  on  resigning  when  the  Governor  declared  war  on 
the  Indians.  But  they  had  no  leader  who  combined  the  ab- 
solute confidence  of  the  meeting  with  the  capacity  to  mould 
public  opinion  and  give  wise  judgment  on  public  afifairs. 
The  "Quaker  Party  "  fell  largely  into  the  hands  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  who  had  sympathy  with  their  demands  for  politi- 
cal freedom,  but  none  for  their  non-military  spirit.  Their 
counsels  became  divided.    The  successor  to  John  Kinsey  as 


JOHN   KINSEY  179 

Speaker,  Isaac  Norris,  2nd,  perhaps  equally  able  and 
trusted  as  a  statesman,  was  more  on  the  fringe  of  meeting 
activities.  The  more  strict  churchmen  were  having  an  in- 
creasing distrust  of  the  influences  of  public  life  and  a  rift 
developed  between  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  Quakers 
which  made  united  action  difficult.  Whether  John  Kinsey 
had  he  lived  would  have  been  able  to  guide  Friendly  activ- 
ities in  politics  in  harmony  with  conscientious  Quakerism, 
is  a  matter  of  speculation.  But  he  must  be  regarded  as  the 
last  great  Quaker  political  leader. 

There  is  not  much  to  guide  us  in  forming  a  judgment  of 
the  man  apart  from  his  external  activities.  Like  the  other 
great  Quaker  Chief  Justice  David  Lloyd  he  left  very  little 
in  the  way  of  memoranda  or  letters  by  which  to  judge  the 
man.  Unlike  him  however  he  seems  to  have  made  no  ene- 
mies and  been  open  to  no  damaging  charges.  He  belonged 
to  the  social  circle  in  Philadelphia,  consisting  of  the  Logans, 
the  Norrises,  the  Pembertons,  the  Morrises  and  others  who 
combined  broad  intellectual  sympathies,  with  keen  business 
instincts  and  honest  interest  in  the  affairs  of  state,  who 
were  the  best  group  of  citizens  of  the  city  and  most  active 
in  all  its  developments.  How  much  he  was  esteemed  by 
these  is  evident  from  many  little  references,  but  by  very 
few  direct  allusions. 

His  home  after  1735  was  "  Plantation,"  an  estate  of  23 
acres  fronting  the  Schuylkill  on  the  east  side  near  Grays 
Ferry,  the  site  of  the  present  U.  S.  Naval  Hospital.  Here 
he  retired  when  his  many  duties  permitted.  About  two 
years  before  his  death,  his  son  John,  a  youth  of  great  prom- 
ise, was  killed  by  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  gun  when  on 
a  hunting  trip  for  ducks  on  the  Schuylkill.  This  greatly 
saddened  his  last  years. 

The  minute  of  the  monthly  meeting  of  Philadelphia  may 
conclude  this  sketch. 


i8o     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

''  John  Kinsey  was  born  in  this  city  about  the  year  1693. 
Being  endowed  with  a  superior  natural  capacity  and  under- 
standing, he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law  and 
became  eminent  in  that  profession  and  distinguished  himself 
in  several  public  stations  in  this  and  the  adjacent  govern- 
ment (New  Jersey)  by  his  integrity,  candour  and  regard  to 
truth  and  justice,  being  of  an  agreeable  disposition,  easy  of 
access  and  free  to  communicate  his  knowledge  for  relief  of 
the  distressed  though  engaged  in  a  multiplicity  of  business. 
He  was  remarkably  useful  and  acquired  a  general  good 
character,  and  great  respect  among  people  of  all  ranks.  In 
his  younger  years  he  was  signally  visited  by  the  power  of 
truth,  by  which  he  was  drawn  off  from  the  vanities  and  fol- 
lies of  the  world  and  became  serviceable  in  the  church  on 
various  accounts.  His  death  was  sudden  and  much  la- 
mented, being  seized  by  an  apoplectic  fit,  during  the  sitting 
of  a  court  at  Burlington,  and  departed  in  a  few  hours.  His 
corpse  was  brought  to  his  own  home  in  this  city,  and  from 
thence  attended  by  a  great  number  of  people  of  the  sev- 
eral denominations  to  our  great  Meeting  House  and  after 
to  the  grave  yard  on  the  13th  of  3d  mo:  1750  in  the  57th 
year  of  his  age,  having  been  Chief  Justice  of  this  province 
the  last  seven  years  of  his  life." 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2nd 

No  one  probably  stood  higher  in  general  esteem  and  trust 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  18th  century  in  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania  than  Isaac  Norris  the  elder.  He  was  the 
son  of  Thomas  Norris,  or  Norrice,  a  London  merchant  who 
joined  Friends  very  early  in  their  history,  and  was  born  in 
London  on  July  26th,  167L  The  family  emigrated  to 
Jamaica  about  1678.  In  1692  Isaac  Norris  went  to  Phila- 
delphia probably  on  business,  as  there  was  a  large  trade  de- 
veloping between  Penn's  new  province  and  the  West  Indies. 
While  absent  a  terrible  earthquake  shook  Port  Royal  to  the 
ground  and  all  the  remaining  members  of  the  family  were 
inmiediately  killed  or  so  hurt  that  death  shortly  followed. 
About  all  that  was  saved  of  the  property  was  a  large  silver 
dish  found  floating  in  the  harbor  in  a  cradle  which  also  con- 
tained a  negro  child,  the  daughter  of  a  slave  who  had  died 
in  heroic  attempts  to  save  his  master. 

When  he  returned  to  the  ruins  of  his  home  and  had  buried 
a  brother  and  sister  who  had  survived  the  immediate  shock, 
he  concluded  to  leave  the  stricken  island  for  Philadelphia. 
In  1693  with  about  £100,  all  that  was  left  of  a  flourishing 
business,  a  young  man  of  about  21,  without  near  relatives  or 
influential  friends  he  entered  into  business  in  Penn's  City. 

He  was  strikingly  successful.  The  conditions  of  the 
times  afforded  an  excellent  chance  for  commercial  success. 
The  triangular  exchange  of  goods  between  Pennsylvania, 
the  West  Indies  and  England  brought  large  gains  and  he 
was  in  a  condition  from  previous  experience  and  capacity 
to  profit  largely.     James  Logan  calls  him  "  a  trader,"  which 

i8i 


1 82     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

probably  meant  a  shrewd  and  successful  man  of  affairs. 
James  Logan  also  says  of  him,  "  I  value  his  judgment  far 
above  any  man's  in  this  government  (except  Samuel  Carpen- 
ter) and  he  is  one  of  the  most  excellent  of  men."  In  a  little 
time  he  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  merchants  of  the  province. 
William  Penn,  Jr.  had  received  as  a  gift  from  his  father  a 
manor  on  Schuylkill  containing  7000  acres.  Isaac  Norris 
and  William  Trent,  the  founder  of  Trenton,  bought  him  out 
and  Norris  soon  after  purchased  Trent's  share.  This  in- 
cluded the  present  Norristown.  He  also  bought  several 
hundred  acres  in  the  Northern  Liberties  of  Philadelphia  on 
which  he  built  Fair  Hill,  for  the  times  a  residence  of  consid- 
erable pretensions.  Pastorius  speaks  admiringly  of  it.  It 
is  interesting  also  to  read  the  description  of  the  colonial 
country  seat,  by  Deborah  Logan,  a  granddaughter  of  Isaac 
Norris,  giving  as  it  does  the  life  of  a  wealthy  Quaker  family. 

"  Fairhill  built  by  Isaac  Norris  upon  the  same  plan  as 
Dolobran  (a  seat  from  long  antiquity  possessed  by  the 
Lloyd  family  in  Montgomeryshire,  North  Wales),  at  least 
as  to  the  ground  floor,  was  finished  in  1717,  and  was  at  that 
time  the  most  beautiful  seat  in  Pennsylvania.  The  sashes 
for  the  windows  and  much  of  the  best  work  were  imported 
from  England.  The  entrance  was  into  a  hall,  paved  with 
black  and  white  marble,  two  large  parlors  on  each  side,  and 
an  excellent  staircase,  well  lighted.  The  courts  and  gardens 
were  in  the  taste  of  those  times,  with  gravel  walks  and 
parterres.  Many  lofty  trees  were  preserved  round  the 
house,  which  added  greatly  to  its  beauty,  and,  at  the  time 
of  my  remembrance,  the  outbuildings  were  covered  with  fes- 
toons of  ivy  and  scarlet  bignonia.  Isaac  Norris  had  been 
very  prosperous  in  trade,  which  at  that  period  offered  un- 
common facilities.  His  son  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  the  possession  of  Fairhill,  as  he  did  in 
his  talents,  abilities,  and  public  usefulness.  As  he  was 
learned  and  fond  of  literature,  he  collected  together  a  very 
good  and  extensive  library.  It  was  placed  in  a  low  build- 
ing, consisting  of  several  rooms,  in  the  garden,  and  was  a 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2ND  183 

most  delightful  retreat  for  contemplative  study;  the  win- 
dows curtained  with  ivy ;  the  sound  of  '  bees  industrious 
murmur '  from  a  glass  hive  which  had  communication  from 
without,  and  where  their  wonderful  instinct  could  be  viewed. 
Beautiful  specimens  of  the  fine  arts  and  many  curiosities 
were  also  collected  there,  the  shelves  were  filled  with  the 
best  authors,  and  materials  for  writing  and  drawing  at 
hand.  In  this  place  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker  spent  all  the 
time  that  his  health  would  permit  which  was  not  devoted 
to  public  business."  ^ 

Isaac  Norris  also  owned  the  Slate  Roof  House,  in  which 
William  Penn  resided  from  1699  to  1701.  It  was  situated 
on  the  east  side  of  Second  Street  below  Chestnut.  He  was 
one  of  three  or  four  Philadelphians  who  owned  a  coach. 
On  it  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  family  was  blazoned. 

His  standing  if  not  his  fortune  was  improved  by  his  mar- 
riage with  Mary  the  third  daughter  of  Thomas  Lloyd  the 
Deputy-Governor  and  Penn's  trusted  friend.  They  had  14 
children,  four  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 

He  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Assembly.  In 
politics  he  sided  wholly  with  the  Proprietor  and  James 
Logan,  though  in  such  a  reasonable  way  as  not  to  bring 
upon  himself  much  of  the  personal  opposition  which  the 
more  pugnacious  Logan  had  to  bear.  He  was  one  of  Wil- 
liam Penn's  most  trusted  and  sagacious  advisers,  and  along 

1  An  interesting  little  piece  of  by-play  is  seen  in  the  following 
minute  of  Fair  Hill  meeting  with  the  good  natured  sarcasm  of 
Isaac  Norris's  comment.  He  had  proposed  an  exchange  of  land 
with  the  meeting  property  and  the  committee  reported : 

"The  Friends  appointed  to  view  Fair  Hill  lands  report  that 
they  have  viewed  it  and  considered  the  proposal  made  bj^  I.  N. 
of  exchanging  a  piece  of  Friends  lands  there,  with  him,  for  the 
like  quantity  of  his  which  they  conceive  will  not  be  of  advantage 
to  this  meeting."     To  which  Isaac  Norris  added, 

"Because  if  Isaac  Norris  keeps  his  land  between  German  road 
and  the  Meeting  House  always  open  as  he  may  probably  do  rather 
than  shut  up  the  way,  this  meeting  will  save  their  own  land  and 
get  all  the  use  of  his  for  nothing." 


1 84     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

with  Samuel  Carpenter,  Caleb  Pusey,  Richard  Hill  and  a 
few  others  was  appealed  to  in  all  difficult  matters  as  a  wise 
counsellor.  In  1706  he  went  to  England  and  spent  two 
years.  Penn  was  at  this  time  in  the  thick  of  his  difficulties 
with  the  grasping  family  of  Fords  which  had  stripped  him  of 
many  thousand  pounds.  His  comment  on  Penn's  business 
methods  is  interesting.  "  But  the  strange  infatuation  that 
should  lead  a  man  never  to  show  this  (Penn's  account  with 
the  Fords)  to  any  friend  whatsoever  before  he  had  so 
clinched  and  closed  it,  is  not  to  be  paralleled  nor  exceeded  in 
a  man  of  his  sense  otherwise." 

Isaac  Norris  untangled  the  medley,  brought  matters  to 
a  settlement  which  ultimately  relieved  Penn  of  the  diffi- 
culty, and  also  disproved  some  of  the  adverse  stories  which 
David  Lloyd  was  then  circulating  among  the  unfriends  of 
the  Proprietor. 

He  was  Mayor  of  the  city,  Presiding  Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  and  a  member  for  about  30  years  of  the 
Governor's  Council.  On  the  death  of  David  Lloyd  in  1731 
he  was  offered  the  Chief  Justiceship  but  declined. 

He  was  attorney  for  William  Penn  to  sell  lands  and  later 
for  his  widow,  and  was  also  one  of  the  Trustees  named  by 
Penn  in  his  will. 

He  died  in  1735  in  his  65th  year  as  the  result  of  an  apo- 
plectic stroke  in  Germantown  Friends  Meeting. 

Isaac  Norris  first  appears  on  the  meeting  records  when  he 
asked  for  permission  in  1694  to  marry  Mary  Lloyd.  What 
happened  at  the  wedding  is  not  very  evident  but  there  ap- 
pears to  have  been  some  "  acclamations  "  the  report  of  which 
the  Keith  party  sent  over  to  England  as  a  complaint  against 
Friends.  George  Whitehead,  a  prominent  English  Friend 
who  seems  on  various  occasions  to  have  antagonized  Wil- 
liam Penn  and  his  friends,  asked  an  explanation.  But  the 
meeting  cleared  the  parties  involved  of  all  blame.     Isaac 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2ND  185 

Norris  then  rapidly  rose  in  meeting  importance,  his  clear 
head  and  wisely  conciliatory  methods  finding  a  large  place 
for  him.  Whenever  a  paper  was  to  be  prepared  or  a  judg- 
ment passed  on  the  orthodoxy  of  a  writing  or  an  important 
piece  of  business  to  be  attended  to,  he  was  on  the  committee. 
Throughout  his  life  he  was  a  trusted  and  consistent  Friend. 
Like  other  friends  of  Penn  and  Logan  he  was  rather  less 
strenuous  in  his  anti-martial  views  than  David  Lloyd. 
When  on  the  occasion  of  that  agitator's  downfall  in  1710 
Isaac  Norris  became  the  practical  leader  of  the  Assembly, 
that  body  voted  £2000  "  to  the  Queen's  use  "  without  re- 
strictions, with  the  argument  that  the  way  it  was  spent  was 
her  matter  not  theirs.  This  set  the  standard  for  the  Quaker 
attitude  in  the  legislature  on  requests  for  grants  of  money 
for  suspicious  purposes  through  the  colonial  days. 

He  was  a  man  of  good  education,  though  how  he  re- 
ceived it  does  not  appear.  He  knew  enough  Latin  to  make 
frequent  use  of  it,  and  his  letters  show  a  good  English  style, 
far  better  than  the  hastily  written  composition  of  William 
Penn.  He  had  varied  interests  which  were  reflected  in  the 
library  which  he  collected  at  Fair  Hill  to  which  his  son 
made  extensive  additions.  After  the  province  got  through 
the  turbulent  days  of  infancy  a  fairly  healthy  and  solid 
intellectual  life  arose  in  the  colony  of  which  the  names  men- 
tioned in  this  volume  are  all  good  representatives.  Neither 
their  state  nor  church  activities  were  permitted  to  take  all 
their  time  or  energy,  and  their  early  retirement  from  busi- 
ness with  moderate  fortunes  gave  them  the  leisure  for  read- 
ing and  profitable  intercourse.  The  new  English  books 
were  early  purchased  and  the  standard  authors  in  various 
languages  carefully  read.  Without  a  college  they  had  the 
advantage  of  a  serious  interest  in  the  best  literature  by 
which  they  were  efficiently  educated. 

The  son  of  Isaac  Norris,  the  grandson  of  Thomas  Lloyd, 


1 86     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  the  son-in-law  of  James  Logan  could  not  well  be  other- 
wise than  an  active  Quaker  politician.  That  he  was  al- 
ways influential  and  after  the  death  of  Logan  and  Kinsey 
the  undoubted  leader  of  the  party  in  the  Assembly  and  the 
Province  is  a  mild  statement  of  his  prominence.  Politi- 
cally no  one  but  Franklin  had  any  considerable  share  in 
this  leadership  and  Franklin  not  being  in  sympathy  with 
Friends  on  certain  points  could  not  carry  the  general  re- 
spect felt  for  Isaac  Norris,  2nd  —  "  The  Speaker,"  —  as  he 
is  usually  designated  to  distinguish  him  from  his  father. 

He  was  born  in  1701  the  sixth  in  the  family.  The  home 
of  his  early  life  was  the  "  Slate  Roof  House,"  and  as  the 
oldest  son  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death  he  inherited  Fair 
Hill.  Here  late  in  life  he  brought  Sarah,  the  daughter  of 
James  Logan,  to  be  his  wife. 

His  first  public  ofiice  was  in  1727  when  26  years  old  he 
became  a  member  of  the  City  Council.  Three  years  later 
he  was  made  magistrate  and  in  1734  a  few  months  before 
his  father's  death,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of 
the  Province.  The  division  between  parties  had  now  shifted 
from  the  days  of  David  Lloyd.  William  Penn  and  his  wife 
were  both  dead  and  his  sons  were  becoming  unsympathetic 
in  their  attitude  to  Friends.  Besides,  the  immigration  of 
non-Quakers  was  creating  a  condition  that  forbade  disunion 
in  their  ranks.  So  while  the  elder  Isaac  Norris  was  a  strong 
adherent  of  the  Proprietors  the  son  immediately  cast  in  his 
lot  with  the  liberty  party,  whose  opposition  to  the  Propri- 
etors and  their  Episcopalian  adherents  was  beginning  to 
develop.  The  lines  however  in  these  early  days  were  not 
hardly  drawn  and  for  a  few  years  under  the  leadership  of 
the  Speaker  Andrew  Hamilton  there  was  a  good  degree  of 
harmony.  When  John  Kinsey  succeeded  Hamilton  in  1739 
and  the  question  of  peace  and  war  was  added  to  the  differ- 
ences about  secret  instructions,  the  taxation  of  the  Penn 


ISAAC   NORRIS,  2ND  187 

lands,  the  issue  of  paper  money  and  other  economic  ques- 
tions, the  contest  became  more  virulent. 

Isaac  Norris,  2nd  had  gained  his  large  place  in  public  es- 
timation partly  by  his  family  connections  and  character, 
and  partly  by  his  mercantile  experience,  which  made  him  an 
authority  on  all  matters  of  trade.  After  his  first  election 
he  was  made  chairman  of  a  committee  to  make  a  report  on 
the  resources  of  Pennsylvania  to  be  sent  to  England.  This 
was  a  valuable  and  comprehensive  statement  and  attracted 
attention  to  the  young  Assemblyman. 

When  John  Kinsey  was  made  Speaker  in  1739  Norris  be- 
came his  chief  assistant  and  as  we  have  seen  in  the  sketch 
of  the  former,  the  great  controversy  between  the  Deputy 
Governor  and  the  House  on  the  question  of  appropriations 
for  war  and  the  right  of  peace  loving  men  to  have  their  con- 
sciences respected  became  acute.  Feelings  were  embittered 
and  politics  ran  riot.  In  1741  the  "  Norris  party  "  as  the 
Friendly  connection  was  often  called  was  defeated  in  the 
city,  and  the  Friends  after  this  never  regained  the  control 
of  the  city  government.  It  was  a  different  matter  however 
to  defeat  Norris  in  Philadelphia  (now  Montgomery)  County, 
yet  it  was  very  important  to  do  so  if  the  Governor  was  to 
control  the  situation.  In  "  the  bloody  election  of  1742  "  a 
serious  riot  occurred,  the  facts  concerning  which  were  about 
as  follows: 

The  opponent  of  Norris  was  the  wealthy  William  Allen 
then  Recorder  of  the  city  and  as  such  responsible  in  part 
for  the  conduct  of  the  election.  The  German  voters  in 
gratitude  for  the  liberal  treatment  they  had  received,  and 
their  freedom  from  military  service  and  heavy  taxes  were 
invincibly  friendly  to  the  Quaker  candidates  and  the  oppo- 
sition claimed  that  unnaturalized  Germans  had  been  voted. 
On  the  morning  of  election  day  some  70  sailors  in  the  inter- 
est of  Allen  armed  with  clubs  gathered  around  the  polls  and 


1 88     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

when  the  Recorder  was  appealed  to  to  keep  the  peace  his 
reply  was  "  They  have  as  good  a  right  to  be  there  as  the 
unnaturalized  Dutchmen."  Very  little  effort  was  made 
to  prevent  a  riot  and  the  riot  came.  Men  were  knocked 
down  around  the  polling  place  and  the  sailors  for  a  time  held 
possession.  Reputable  citizens  like  Israel  Pemberton  were 
rudely  treated,  and  a  reaction  of  public  feeling  probably 
aided  the  Norris  party.  When  the  roughs  were  driven  away 
and  the  election  was  allowed  to  proceed,  Norris  was  chosen 
by  a  considerable  majority.  The  Assembly  took  ample  tes- 
timony and  without  avail  urged  the  city  authorities  to 
punish  the  rioters. 

The  Assembly  at  this  time  was  opposing  the  Governor, 
w^ho  as  agent  for  the  Penns  was  endeavoring  to  acquire  by 
fair  means  or  otherwise  the  right  to  settle  all  parts  of  the 
province.  It  had  been  bought  of  the  Indians  piecemeal 
and  the  rapid  immigration  of  the  peaceful  years  from  1710 
to  1740  had  effected  the  sale  of  much  of  the  lands  already 
purchased.  Hence  it  was  desired  to  secure  more  from  the 
Indians,  for  the  Assembly  insisted,  so  far  as  lay  in  their 
power,  that  purchase  must  precede  settlement.  The  trick 
of  the  "  Walking  Purchase  "  by  which  a  sort  of  title  was 
had  for  lands  lying  between  the  Delaware  and  Lehigh  Riv- 
ers had  alienated  the  Pennsylvania  Indians,  and  the  Iro- 
quois of  New  York  who  claimed  a  kind  of  sovereignty  over 
them  were  called  in  to  move  them  out  of  the  way  to  the 
banks  of  the  Susquehanna. 

In  a  noted  Council  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1742,  the  chiefs 
of  the  Five  Nations  professed  to  make  a  judicial  examina- 
tion of  the  title  deeds  and  to  decide  the  question  of  rights. 
They  had  always  been  friendly  with  the  English  as  against 
the  French,  but  now  having  established  their  claims  to 
recompense,  word  came  to  Philadelphia  that  they  had  also 
been  treating  with  the  French  in  Canada,  and  that  their 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2ND  189 

future  allegiance  must  be  secured  by  presents  and  new  treat- 
ies. It  was  also  hoped  that  they  could  be  induced  to  take  up 
arms  against  the  French.  A  general  conference  was  therefore 
called  to  be  held  at  Albany  in  1745  to  be  attended  by  dele- 
gates from  New  England,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
Thomas  Lawrence  of  the  Governor's  Council,  John  Kinsey 
the  Speaker  and  Isaac  Norris  were  the  Pennsylvania  dele- 
gates. Norris  kept  a  journal  of  his  trip  to  Albany,  now  in 
print.^  The  results  of  the  conference  have  already  been 
given.  Kinsey  and  Norris  were  in  close  accord.  Their 
Quaker  ideas  kept  them  from  removing  their  hats  in  the 
presence  of  the  Governor  of  New  York,  which  he  demanded, 
and  they  therefore  remained  outside  several  of  the  con- 
ferences doing  their  work,  probably  none  the  less  effectively, 
in  private  meetings  with  the  Indian  chiefs.  They  gave  lib- 
eral presents  at  parting  and  Brother  Onas  again  stood  well 
with  the  Indians.  The  Iroquois  were  persuaded  not  to  take 
up  the  hatchet  on  either  side  and  war  was  averted. 

In  1751  Norris  succeeded  John  Kinsey  as  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly,  a  post  which  he  held  till  nearly  his  death.  It 
was  a  result  of  his  30  years'  service  in  this  legislative  body 
that  his  fame  as  a  statesman  must  rest.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  during  this  time  no  important  measure  went  through 
without  having  strongly  felt  his  impress.  During  the  early 
years  he  was  most  intimately  associated  with  Kinsey  and 
during  his  late  years  with  Franklin,  but  always  his  strong 
individuality  stood  out.  No  one  but  must  respect  his  stern 
integrity,  his  capable  management  and  his  high  ideals  of 
independence  in  public  service.  His  frequent  election  was 
compromised  by  no  self  seeking  schemes,  but  his  attitude 
simply  was,  that  his  time  and  abilities  were  at  the  service 
of  the  state,  if  they  were  needed  and  desired.  The  voters 
responded,  placing  him  usually  at  the  head  of  the  poll. 
1  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  Vol.  27,  p.  20. 


u 


190     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Up  to  1729  the  Assembly  had  met  in  a  hired  private 
house  or  occasionally  in  the  Friends  Meeting  House.  In 
that  year  an  act  was  passed  authorizing  a  commission  of 
which  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  was  chairman  to  con- 
struct a  house  and  two  thousand  pounds  was  appropriated 
for  the  purpose.  Differences  arose  as  to  the  location  and 
plans  and  nothing  was  done  till  1732.  Finally  the  State 
House,  the  fine  chaste  central  building  we  now  see,  was 
adopted  and  construction  was  started.  To  Andrew  Ham- 
ilton belongs  the  credit  as  architect  and  overseer  of  the 
erection.  But  he  had  to  bear  much  criticism,  and  had  spent 
some  of  his  own  money  and  on  Jan.  18th,  1734  he  asked  to 
be  discharged  from  further  responsibility. 

This  does  not  seem  to  have  been  granted  and  two  years 
later  he  secured  the  two  lots,  one  on  the  corner  of  5th  and 
Chestnut  and  the  other  at  the  corner  of  6th  and  Chestnut, 
which  he  transferred  respectively  to  the  city  and  county 
of  Philadelphia  for  courts  and  other  public  uses.  Upon 
these  lots  at  a  later  date  the  two  corner  buildings  fronting 
on  Chestnut  Street  were  placed. 

In  1738  Andrew  Hamilton  rendered  his  final  account 
showing  the  expenditures  upon  the  State  House  proper  and 
the  land  on  which  it  stood  to  be  £4446. 

In  1751  when  Norris  became  Speaker  he  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  crown  the  structure  with  a  bell.  In  ordering  from 
England  his  instructions  were,  "  Let  the  bell  be  cast  by  the 
best  workmen  and  examined  carefully  before  it  is  shipped 
with  the  following  words  well-shaped  in  large  letters  round 
it;  viz.:  '  By  order  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Province  of  Penn- 
sylvania, for  the  State  House  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
1752,'  and  underneath  '  Proclaim  Liberty  throughout  the 
land,  unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof.  Levit.  XXY:  10.'  " 
The  bell  imported  was  cracked  in  the  trial  ringing  and  re- 
cast in  Philadelphia.     Isaac  Norris  said,  ''  they  have  made 


ISAAC  NORRIS,   2ND  191 

a  good  bell  which  pleases  me  much  that  we  should  first 
venture  upon  and  succeed  in  the  greatest  bell  for  aught  I 
know  in  English  America  —  surpassing  too  the  imported 
one  which  is  too  high  and  brittle  —  the  weight  was  2080 
lbs." 

When  Isaac  Norris  directed  the  inscription  he  could 
hardly  have  foreseen  its  prophetic  character,  but  it  was 
rung  immediately  after  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  1776  and  the  "  Liberty  Bell  "  is  the  most 
cherished  relic  of  American  history. 

Isaac  Norris  was  appointed  to  another  Albany  treaty  with 
the  Indians  in  1754.  The  commission  consisted  of  John 
Penn  and  Richard  Peters  representing  the  Proprietors,  and 
Benjamin  Franklin  and  himself  the  Assembly.  Indian  re- 
lations were  becoming  dijQEicult.  The  Five  Nations  still 
claimed  the  right  to  the  ownership  of  Pennsylvania  and  in- 
sisted that  no  sale  of  land  by  the  Delawares  was  permis- 
sible. In  an  evil  hour  the  government  of  Pennsylvania 
recognized  this  claim  and  this  Albany  meeting  was  for  the 
purpose  of  effecting  a  purchase.  By  methods  which  were 
more  or  less  unfair,  taking  advantage  of  the  Indian  igno- 
rance of  geography,  they  bought  for  £400  all  of  south- 
western Pennsylvania.  When  the  Delawares  found  that 
their  land  had  been  sold  without  their  consent,  they  threw 
off  the  Iroquois  yoke,  joined  the  French,  defeated  Brad- 
dock's  army  a  year  later  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  Colony  the  horrors  of  Indian  warfare  were  known  on 
the  frontiers.  What  part  Isaac  Norris  had  in  framing  this 
treaty  may  not  be  known.  Primarily  it  was  the  work  of 
the  agents  of  the  Proprietors  who  wished  to  sell  their  lands. 
His  own  attitude  had  always  been  so  fair  and  friendly  to 
the  Indians  that  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  he  was  actively 
interested  in  the  proceedings.  But  there  are  indications 
that  his  relations  with  Friends  were  less  close  in  his  later 
years. 


192     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

It  was  on  this  expedition  that  Franklin  presented  to  his 
fellow  delegates  his  plan  for  a  union  of  the  Colonies,  of 
course  in  subordination  to  the  English  Crown  which  was  a 
precursor  of  the  final  union  in  Revolutionary  days.  Sixty 
years  earlier  William  Penn  had  proposed  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar scheme. 

The  war  came,  French  intrigue  and  the  unwisdom  of  the 
Executive  branch  of  the  government  of  the  Province  drove 
the  Indians,  who  for  seventy-three  years  had  been  friendly, 
into  the  warpath.  Cries  came  in  from  the  frontiers  of  home- 
steads burnt,  men  shot  at  their  plows,  women  and  children 
scalped  or  carried  into  horrible  captivity  and  a  growing 
sentiment  among  the  red  men  that  the  French  were  the 
stronger  and  that  the  English  were  to  be  driven  into  the 
sea. 

For  the  past  ten  years  while  this  state  of  affairs  had 
been  preparing  the  Quaker  Assembly  under  Norris's  leader- 
ship had  adopted  a  definite  course.  The  wisdom  of  appro- 
priations had  been  complicated  by  the  efforts  of  the  Penns 
to  avoid  their  fair  share  of  taxes  on  their  unsold  lands,  and 
by  their  attempt  to  diminish  the  powers  of  the  Assembly  in 
the  matter  of  appropriating  and  expending  public  money. 
But  in  the  matter  of  military  defense  the  Assembly  had 
practically  said,  "  We  will  not  violate  our  consciences,  or 
ask  our  constituents  to  do  so  by  laws  enforcing  military 
service.  We  will  not  require  citizens  who  are  not  con- 
scientious to  perform  the  service  for  us.  But  we  recognize 
that  we  are  the  servants  of  the  province  and  not  of  a  sect, 
and  when  men  voluntarily  form  companies  for  defence  we 
will  supply  the  needed  money."  So  they  voted  taxes  "  for 
the  king's  use  "  whenever  the  defense  of  their  rights  per- 
mitted with  a  not  illiberal  hand.  They  equipped  and  fed 
voluntary  militia.  They  built  a  chain  of  forts  to  fence  off 
the  Indian  territory.     They  voted  supplies  to  Braddock's 


ISAAC   NORRIS,  2ND  193 

army.  In  this  policy  they  were  supported  by  the  Province 
and  year  after  year  were  elected  by  large  majorities. 

In  the  spring  of  1756  the  Governor  and  Council  declared 
war  against  the  Delaware  and  Shawnese  Indians.  The  As- 
sembly was  asked  to  appropriate  money.  This  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis.  The  more  conservative  Friends  had 
been  inclined  for  some  time  to  question  the  consistency  of 
war  taxes  with  their  professions  of  peace  and  in  1755  a 
number  refused  to  pay  them,  suffering  distraint  of  goods. 
A  Quaker  Assembly  imposing  taxes  against  which  the 
Quaker  conscience  revolted  was  an  unedifying  spectacle. 

Matters  were  brought  to  a  head  by  a  bill  introduced  into 
the  British  Parliament  to  require  an  oath  of  allegiance  of 
all  members  of  colonial  legislatures.  This  was  especially 
aimed  at  the  Philadelphia  Friends,  and  would  have  driven 
them  all  out  of  office.  To  avert  this  result  certain  English 
Friends  agreed  to  advise  the  retirement,  at  least  temporary, 
of  enough  members  of  the  meeting  to  give  the  non-members 
a  majority  and  sent  over  two  delegates  to  urge  this  view 
upon  the  colonists.  Prior  to  their  arrival  six  members  led 
by  James  Pemberton  had  resigned.  A  number  of  others 
declined  reelection  in  the  fall  of  1756  and  the  meeting 
authorities  did  their  best  to  induce  such  as  had  been  elected 
also  to  withdraw. 

In  the  fall  of  1755  just  after  the  Braddock  defeat  while 
the  war  was  still  raging  on  the  frontiers  the  Province  had 
elected  out  of  an  Assembly  of  36  members,  26  Friends.  As 
a  result  of  the  self-effacing  efforts  but  twelve  members  were 
left  after  the  election  of  1756.  These  however  contained 
two  distinguished  leaders.  George  Ashbridge  had  been 
sent  up  by  Chester  County  continuously  since  1743.  When 
the  committee  of  his  Monthly  Meeting  tried  to  show  the 
impropriety  of  his  retaining  his  post,  the  only  report  they 
could  make  of  his  attitude  was  "  He  do  not  feel  himself 


194     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

culpable."  He  held  his  place  till  his  death  in  1773,  the 
undoubted  choice  of  his  constituents  for  thirty  years. 

The  other  was  Isaac  Norris.  He  also  declined  to  resign. 
The  two  delegates  from  England  had  personal  interviews 
with  all  Friends  in  the  Assembly.  "  They  first  waited  on 
the  Speaker  Isaac  Norris  and  if  they  could  have  prevailed 
with  him  to  decline  it  would  have  the  desired  effect  on  the 
others  now  remaining  but  they  had  no  effect  further  than 
that  he  approved  of  what  the  others  did.^  "  He  had  been  in 
the  Assembly  for  twenty-two  years  and  was  to  remain  eight 
more.  It  is  quite  probable  that  though  he  was  in  the  main 
a  loyal  Friend,  he  did  not  seriously  disapprove  of  the  meas- 
ures taken  to  defend  the  Province  from  the  French  and 
Indians  and  he  knew  the  value  of  his  leadership.  He  prob- 
ably saw  the  need  of  the  break-up  of  the  Quaker  majority 
and  now  that  was  secured  preferred  to  continue  his  useful 
services  as  Speaker.  James  Pemberton  writes  in  another 
letter  in  1765  "It  is  with  some  reluctance  several  of  us  enter 
again  into  this  service  the  disposition  of  our  Speaker  whose 
conduct  you  can  not  in  all  respects  approve  renders  the  task 
the  more  disagreeable." 

The  influence  of  Norris  is  strikingly  shown  in  a  pamphlet 
printed  in  1758,  the  author  unknown,  called  The  Chronicle 
of  Nathan  ben  Saddi,  in  which  the  leaders  of  the  popular 
party  are  satirized.  William  Moore  was  Judge  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  of  Chester  County  and  a  violent  partisan  of  the 
Proprietors.  He  expressed  great  dislike  of  the  Quakers  and 
openly  abused  them  in  a  way  to  cause  great  irritation.  A 
number  of  charges  were  preferred  against  him  by  his  con- 
stituents, charges  of  serious  misconduct  and  injustice.  The 
Assembly  asked  him  to  appear  and  answer  them.  He  de- 
nied their  authority  to  summon  him  and  in  violent  language 
refused  to  appear.  Provost  Smith  of  the  University  had 
'  Private  letter  of  James  Pemberton. 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2ND  195 

Judge  Moore's  reply  printed  in  German  and  widely  dis- 
tributed. For  this  they  were  arrested  in  January  1756  for 
libel.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  of  this  con- 
troversy that  the  satire  appeared.  The  prominent  actors 
are  mentioned  by  false  names  but  easily  distinguished  at 
the  time.  We  are  concerned  now  only  with  the  part  re- 
ferring to  Isaac  Norris. 

"  And  Isaac  the  judge  did  according  to  the  sayings  of 
Adonis  the  Scribe  (Franklin)  and  he  mouldeth  the  Coun- 
cillors in  his  hands  even  as  a  potter  mouldeth  the  clay. 

"  So  they  gave  him  a  great  report  among  the  people,  and 
he  grew  proud  in  heart  saying  to  himself, 

"  '  I  bid  one  go  and  he  goeth,  and  another  run  and  he  run- 
neth. Am  not  I  great  in  authority?  If  any  man  stand 
against  my  sayings  thus  and  thus  shall  it  be  done  unto  him.' 

"  And  he  became  haughty  and  his  mind  swelled  within 
him  and  he  went  from  the  ways  of  David  his  father. 

"  And  he  made  an  image  of  paper  in  the  shape  of  a  calf, 
and  the  body  seemed  as  though  thirty  calves  were  joined 
together  but  there  was  only  one  head  and  the  head  was  like 
unto  the  head  of  Isaac  the  judge." 

The  thirty  calves  probably  refers  to  thirty  members  of 
the  Assembly  who  followed  his  lead. 

The  Friendly  majority  in  the  Assembly  never  returned. 
The  Yearly  Meeting  persistently  advised  its  members  to 
accept  no  public  places  the  duties  of  which  were  likely  to 
compromise  their  principles  and  a  succession  of  Indian  and 
French  wars  seemed  to  make  membership  in  the  Assembly 
one  of  these  questionable  offices.  Each  year  we  have  re- 
ports as  to  the  number  of  Quakers.  They  never,  except 
possibly  once,  amounted  to  a  majority  though  it  is  evident 
that  they  would  have  been  had  the  will  of  the  people  gov- 
erned the  selection.  It  was  however  the  same  party  acting 
through  different  representatives,  and  Isaac  Norris  was  its 
undisputed  leader.    Among  the  Friends  there  was  no  com- 


196     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

petition  and  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the  only  man  outside 
the  Society  who  was  greatly  influential  in  its  councils. 

A  correspondent  of  Thomas  Penn  after  detailing  the  ef- 
forts of  his  friends  to  procure  the  election  of  "  sensible  and 
reasonable  "  men  to  the  legislature  of  1756  had  to  admit 
that  their  efforts  were  vain,  and  that  the  "  veriest  partisans 
against  the  Proprietors  "  had  been  returned  including  "  one 
Quakerized  Presbyterian  and  two  Quakerized  churchmen  " 
heading  the  list  with  Isaac  Norris.  He  said  that  "  the 
Quakers  were  never  more  active  though  a  few  serious  and 
grave  men  did  not  show  themselves."  The  "  Quaker  party  " 
ruled  the  state  till  the  Revolution. 

War  questions  having  been  placed  somewhat  in  the  back- 
ground the  contest  with  the  Proprietors  became  the  issue 
between  the  parties.  The  Friends  led  by  Norris  and 
Franklin  and  aided  by  the  Germans  and  some  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  of  the  west  were  vigorous  op- 
ponents, while  many  of  the  wealthy  Episcopalians  of  Phila- 
delphia rallied  around  the  governor  and  the  Penn  family. 
The  popularly  elected  legislature  was  always  overwhelm- 
ingly for  liberty  from  the  restrictions  imposed  from  Eng- 
land, and  by  limiting  supplies  and  the  salary  of  the 
Governor  forced  one  access  of  privilege  after  another  from 
the  imwilling  hands  of  the  sons  of  William  Penn.  But 
these  owners  of  a  large  part  of  the  Province  were  too 
strongly  entrenched  in  their  inherited  rights  and  privileges 
to  be  seriously  affected  by  anything  within  the  power  of  the 
freemen  of  the  Province  even  though  party  feeling  ran  high 
and  one  legislature  after  another  sent  up  its  petitions  and 
demands. 

The  war  must  be  carried  into  England  and  in  1757  Frank- 
lin and  Norris  were  appointed  agents  to  present  the  popular 
claims  to  the  English  government  and  to  strive  after  some 
satisfactory  arrangement  with  the  Proprietors.     Norris  de- 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2ND  197 

clined  on  account  of  ill-health  and  Franklin  went  alone,  ac- 
complishing however  but  little. 

The  feeling  became  more  and  more  bitter  and  by  1764 
the  great  body  of  the  liberty  party  including  the  most  of  the 
Friends  were  of  the  mind  that  one  remedy  alone  was  left, 
the  dispossession  of  the  Proprietors  of  any  share  in  the 
government  and  the  acceptance  of  a  Governor  appointed 
by  the  Crown.  This  popular  demand  was  reflected  in  the 
Assembly  and  in  May,  1764,  a  resolution  to  that  effect  was 
passed  by  a  large  majority.  The  Speaker  opposed  it,  and 
John  Dickinson  who  was  afterwards  his  son-in-law  made  his 
first  great  speech  on  the  same  side.  But  it  was  of  no  avail. 
Isaac  Norris  was  now  a  feeble  man  and  though  treated  with 
great  respect  could  not  control  the  House.  He  now  in- 
formed them  "  that  for  30  years  past  he  had  had  the  honor 
of  serving  as  a  representative  of  the  people  of  the  Province, 
and  for  more  than  half  that  time  as  Speaker;  that  in  these 
offices  he  had  uniformly  endeavored  to  the  best  of  his  judg- 
ment to  promote  the  public  good.  That  the  subject  of  the 
present  debate  was  a  matter  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
Province.  That  as  his  sentiments  on  the  occasion  were 
very  different  from  the  majority,  and  his  seat  in  the  chair 
prevented  him  from  entering  into  the  debate,  he  therefore 
prayed  the  House  that  if  in  consequence  of  their  order  his 
duty  should  oblige  him  to  sign  the  petition  as  Speaker  he 
might  be  permitted  to  offer  his  sentiments  on  the  subject 
before  he  signed,  and  that  they  might  be  entered  on  the  min- 
utes." 

Out  of  courtesy  the  request  was  granted  but  the  next  day 
he  was  not  able  to  attend  and  instead  sent  in  his  resigna- 
tion as  Speaker.  A  most  flattering  testimonial  to  the  value 
of  his  past  services  was  sent  by  the  House  asking  for  a  with- 
drawal of  the  resignation,  which  he  declined,  and  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  chosen  in  his  place. 


198     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Franklin  was  however  defeated  for  reelection  in  October 
1764  and  Norris  against  his  wishes  was  elected,  and  was 
again  voted  into  the  Speakership.  This  insistence  upon  his 
holding  the  place  by  a  House  which  did  not  agree  with  his 
position  on  the  important  issue  of  the  day  is  an  indication 
of  the  strong  respect  and  confidence  of  the  Province.  Frank- 
lin was  again  sent  to  England  to  effect  the  transfer,  but  the 
encroachments  of  the  Crown  soon  caused  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  to  change  their  mind  and  accept  the  judg- 
ment of  Norris.  Franklin  presented  the  petition  but  did 
not  press  it,  and  it  was  never  granted. 

After  a  few  days,  Isaac  Norris  resigned  again,  and  after 
an  attempt  to  elect  George  Ashbridge,  Joseph  Fox  succeeded 
to  the  chair. 

He  died  at  Fair  Hill  on  July  13th,  1766. 

In  his  political  life  he  was  the  type  of  dignified  honesty 
and  devotion  to  the  public  service.  A  friend  says  of  him: 
"  In  all  his  long  public  career  he  never  asked  a  vote  to  get 
into  the  House  nor  solicited  any  member  for  posts  of  pri- 
vate advantage  or  employments."  Happy  the  state  which 
can  call  into  its  service  and  retain  for  a  lifetime  such  a  man, 
without  asking  him  to  vary  his  honest  judgment  or  sac- 
rifice aught  of  his  independence.  As  he  said  on  one  occa- 
sion when  he  left  the  Speaker's  chair  to  speak  on  a  matter 
of  much  moment,  "  No  man  shall  ever  stamp  his  foot  on 
my  grave  and  say,  '  Curse  him !  Here  lies  one  who  basely 
betrayed  the  liberties  of  his  country,'  " 

Isaac  Norris  was  not  especially  prominent  in  Friendly 
affairs.  Except  as  Clerk  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  held  church  positions.  But  his  promi- 
nence, integrity,  abilities,  social  position  and  wealth  gave 
him  a  large  standing  among  them  as  well  as  others  and  he 
always  emphasized  his  connection.  He  regularly  attended 
the  Friends  Meeting  adjoining  the  grounds  of  Fair  Hill, 


ISAAC  NORRIS,  2ND  199 

on  a  lot  which  William  Penn  had  given  George  Fox  for  the 
use  of  Friends.  Deborah  Logan  says  that  after  the  First- 
day  Meeting  "  All  the  decent  strangers  who  frequented  it 
were  sure  of  an  invitation  to  dine  with  him,  where,  as  in 
the  time  of  his  parents,  a  good  table  and  the  warmest  wel- 
come awaited  them."  His  influence  among  others  was 
probably  the  greater  that  he  did  not  always  do  as  the  strict 
Friends  desired  and  no  one  questioned  his  general  loyalty 
and  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions. 

His  married  life  was  short,  his  wife  Sarah  Logan  Norris 
dying  in  1744.  Two  sons  died  in  infancy  and  the  daughter 
Sarah  in  1769,  shortly  after  her  father.  Mary,  the  oldest, 
married  John  Dickinson.  His  unmarried  sister,  Elizabeth, 
became  the  kindly  genius  of  the  household  which  was  a 
happy  and  harmonious  one.  He  spent  much  of  his  leisure 
time  in  his  library  building  which  he  had  erected  separately 
from  the  house  and  hence  \(^as  saved  from  destruction  when 
the  British  burnt  the  residence  of  the  "  arch-rebel  Dickin- 
son." He  was  Trustee  of  the  College,  afterwards  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  active  in  every  movement 
•for  the  development  of  the  intellectual  life  and  welfare  of 
the  city.  He  wrote  French  and  Latin  fluently  and  read 
most  of  the  books  of  consequence  of  cotemporary  literature. 

Thus  as  a  man  who  was  both  scholarly  and  practical, 
adaptable  and  conscientious,  tolerant  and  religious,  he  was 
able  to  guide  the  youthful  Province  through  rather  stormy 
times  when  the  Holy  Experiment  had  to  be  tempered  with 
many  conflicting  interests  and  divergent  judgments. 


JAMES    PEMBERTON 

When  state  and  church  duties  seemed  to  conflict,  Isaac 
Norris  usually  decided  in  favor  of  the  state.  Under  sim- 
ilar circumstances  James  Pemberton  would  give  his  prefer- 
ence to  the  church.  Both  were  men  of  high  principles  and 
strong  character.  Both  had  the  political  instinct  strongly- 
developed,  and  found  it  difficult  to  keep  out  of  public  life. 
Both  were  men  of  means,  good  education  and  social  stand- 
ing, closely  related  to  each  other  by  marriage.  But  Isaac 
Norris,  2nd,  had  an  ancestry  and  education  which  tended 
towards  what  was  practical  and  possible,  and  would  bend 
his  desires  to  secure  it.  James  Pemberton  lived  more  in 
the  atmosphere  of  unwavering  principle  as  was  the  habit  of 
the  stricter  Friends  of  earlier  days.  The  type  of  thought 
of  Isaac  Norris,  1st,  and  James  Logan,  was  not  quite  the 
type  which  characterized  the  ancestors  of  James  Pember- 
ton. 

The  Pemberton  family  came  to  Pennsylvania  in  the  fall 
of  1682  about  the  same  time  as  William  Penn.  The  group 
consisted  of  Ralph  Pemberton,  72  years  old,  who  soon  died, 
his  son  Phineas,  aged  33,  James  Harrison  and  wife,  whose 
daughter  Phebe  had  married  Phineas  Pemberton,  and  a 
number  of  children,  relatives  and  dependents.  An  uncle 
had  preceded  them  to  the  Province  and  had  bought  land  in 
Bucks  County  nearly  opposite  the  site  of  the  present 
Trenton  and  this  determined  them  to  seek  homes  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  James  Harrison  was  placed  in  charge  of 
William  Penn's  country  place,  Pennsbury,  and  Phineas 
Pemberton  bought  300  acres  near  by,  and  later  a  larger 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  201 

track  farther  from  the  river.  Almost  immediately  he  was 
seized  upon  for  public  service,  first  as  register  for  Bucks 
County,  then  in  1685  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly  for  Bucks 
County,  with  increasing  trust  and  confidence  as  the  years 
went  by.  The  civil  affairs  of  his  county  came  largely  into 
his  hands  and  in  1696  he  succeeded  Thomas  Lloyd  as  Mas- 
ter of  the  Rolls  of  the  Province.  He  died  in  1702,  aged  53 
years  and  as  Samuel  Carpenter  writes  to  William  Penn, 
"  He  will  be  greatly  missed  having  left  few  or  none  in  these 
parts  or  the  adj  acent  like  him  for  wisdom  and  integrity  and 
a  general  service."  He  was  equally  prominent  in  the  church, 
serving  as  clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  otherwise. 

Phineas  and  Phebe  Pemberton  had  nine  children  of  whom 
four  outlived  him.  We  are  concerned  with  Israel  the  eldest 
surviving  son.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  as  a  boy  and 
served  his  apprenticeship  to  Samuel  Carpenter,  the  great 
capitalist  of  the  day,  and  soon  established  himself  in  very 
large  successful  mercantile  transactions.  He  became  the 
wealthiest  and  best  known  merchant  of  Philadelphia.  In 
1710  he  married  Rachel  Read,  whose  sister  was  the  wife 
of  James  Logan. 

By  his  financial  and  social  position  thus  assured,  his 
inherent  abilities  and  trustworthiness  and  his  generous 
hospitality  unrivalled  in  the  Province,  he  rapidly  gained 
confidence  and  respect  and  held  a  series  of  important  places 
in  church  and  state.  For  19  successive  years  from  1731 
to  1750  he  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  and  in  1745  was 
elected  Speaker,  but  declined.  Like  his  father  he  was  clerk 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  after  1729  an  elder. 

His  political  life  covered  the  high  water  mark  of  Quaker 
domination,  and  while  not  obtrusive,  its  effectiveness  was 
attested  by  the  numerous  committees  for  routine  service  of 
which  he  was  a  member.  It  was  a  model  of  fidelity  and 
usefulness. 


202     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

He  left  his  large  estate  to  his  three  sons,  Israel,  James 
and  John,  the  only  ones  of  his  ten  children  who  survived 
him. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  Pemberton  home  was  devoutly 
religious.  To  build  up  their  spiritual  life  by  consecration, 
kindness  and  service  was  a  constant  effort.  The  volumi- 
nous letters  of  the  three  brothers  are  some  of  the  best  treat- 
ises on  the  conditions  of  the  times,  giving  us  the  inner 
history  of  Quakerism  as  a  religion  and  as  a  factor  in 
government.  Mostly  addressed  to  English  correspondents 
like  Dr.  Fothergill,  and  the  travelling  ministers  who  went 
through  the  colonies  and  when  in  Philadelphia  made  the 
Pemberton  houses  their  homes,  they  give  the  sort  of  infor- 
mation which  is  often  taken  for  granted  in  correspondence 
between  friends  of  the  same  community.  John  was  a  min- 
ister. There  is  no  trace  of  any  but  religious  interests  in 
his  letters.  He  travelled  extensively  in  Gospel  service  and 
died  at  Pyrmont,  Germany,  while  thus  engaged.  But  Israel 
and  James  were  very  wide  awake  to  every  feature  of  pro- 
vincial life.  They  took  part  in  politics,  joined  societies  for 
conducting  hospitals,  for  slavery  abolition,  for  Indian  con- 
ciliation, for  every  beneficent  movement  of  the  times,  while 
their  purses  were  liberally  opened  for  private  charities. 

Israel  Pemberton  "  the  head  of  the  Quaker  interests  "  as 
John  Adams  called  him  in  pre-Revolutionary  times  or  "  the 
king  of  the  Quakers  "  as  he  was  dubbed  by  the  people  in 
general,  was  the  oldest  and  in  some  respects  the  most  in- 
fluential of  the  three.  In  later  life  he  lost  his  interest  in 
ordinary  provincial  politics  when  the  Quaker  policy  of  In- 
dian conciliation  was  exchanged  for  warfare  and  refused 
for  ten  years  even  to  vote. 

A  little  piece  of  by-play  may  give  some  light  on  the  small 
political  troubles  of  his  early  days.  In  the  exciting  contest 
of  1739  when  he  was  about  24  years  old  he  criticized  the 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  203 

Governor  most  severely  in  a  company  of  which  Alexander 
Graydon  (he  whose  memoirs  we  read  with  so  much  interest) 
was  a  member.  He  said  that  it  was  the  Governor's  design 
to  overturn  the  Constitution,  and  reduce  them  to  the  King's 
government;  that  the  Governor  carried  on  the  debate  with- 
out dignity ;  that  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  Governor  would 
use  his  influence  in  England  to  set  the  Assembly  in  the 
wrong,  and  that  he  would  make  an  unjust  representation  of 
the  matter.  Graydon  narrated  this  conversation  to  the 
Governor,  and  the  next  day  told  Pemberton  so,  upon  which 
Pemberton  said  he  was  glad  of  it;  that  he  would  not  make 
any  apolog>',  for  it  was  a  good  thing  that  these  truths  should 
come  to  the  Governor's  knowledge,  for  his  sycophants  who 
lived  around  him  would  never  tell  him,  and  that  he  would 
prove  that  the  Governor  said  that  he  would  bring  matters 
to  extremities.  This  would  not  now  seem  a  very  serious 
offense,  but  the  Governor  was  rash  and  issued  a  warrant 
for  the  arrest  of  Pemberton.  After  some  discussion  in  the 
council  as  to  the  legality  of  this  warrant,  it  was  allowed  to 
proceed.  The  Supreme  Court  interfered,  however,  with  the 
serving  of  the  warrant,  issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and 
ordered  that  Israel  Pemberton,  Jr.,  should  not  be  called 
before  the  council,  which  simply  indicates  that  the  court 
and  council  were  on  different  sides  of  the  political  contro- 
versy. The  Governor  declared  this  writ  illegal,  and  again 
ordered  the  sheriff  to  serve  the  warrant,  who  reported  "  that 
Pemberton  read  the  warrant  and  called  it  nonsense;  that 
he,  the  sheriff,  being  ordered  by  the  secretary  to  behave 
toward  Mr.  Pemberton  with  civility,  had  permitted  him  to 
go  out  of  his  sight  in  the  house  of  John  Kinsey,  Esq.,  after 
his  word  was  given  that  he  would  not  escape,  and  he  notwith- 
standing, had  escaped."  The  Governor  would  not  excuse 
the  sheriff,  and  Pemberton  was  held  in  legal  confinement, 
the  Governor  having  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  writ  of 


204     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

the  Supreme  Court  was  illegal,  under  the  circumstances. 
He  therefore  instructed  the  sheriff  again  to  find  Pemberton, 
but  he  had  gone  to  Chester.  However,  he  came  back  the 
next  day.  The  sheriff  then  reports  in  these  words  the 
trouble  which  Israel  gave  him  in  the  attempt  to  serve  the 
warrant: 

"  That  yesterday  about  twelve  of  the  Clock  he  came  to 
town;  his  Deputy  gave  him  a  Warrant  from  the  Governor 
to  take  Mr.  Pemberton,  Junr.;  that  he  went  to  Mr.  Pem- 
berton's  House  about  one  of  the  clock,  and  had  answer  that 
he  was  not  in  town;  he  went  again  about  three  of  the  clock, 
and  had  answer  that  he  was  gone  out;  he  went  this  morn- 
ing about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  after  Eight  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  asked  his  Clerk  or  Book  Keeper  if  Mr.  Pemberton 
was  at  home,  who  said  he  was,  and  went  to  some  other 
Apartment  of  the  House,  as  he  thought,  to  see  for  his  mas- 
ter, but  returned  and  said  his  Master  was  in  bed ;  Mr.  Rob- 
inson went  to  another  Door  of  the  House,  and  asked  Mrs. 
Pemberton  if  Mr.  Pemberton  was  within,  who  said  he  was 
in  Bed;  Mr.  Robinson  asked  what  time  he  would  be  up,  and 
had  answer  he  would  in  half  an  hour;  he  went  towards  Mr. 
Pemberton's  House  about  twelve  of  the  Clock,  and  in  his 
going  down  Chestnut  Street,  by  John  Miller's  at  the  Sign 
of  the  City  of  Dublin,  he  saw  Mr.  Pemberton  standing  on 
the  Platform  at  his  own  Door,  but  when  he  had  got  so  far 
as  Front  Street,  he  saw  Mr.  Pemberton  tack  about  and  go 
into  his  House,  and  since  has  seen  nothing  of  him." 

Evidently  the  Governor  was  making  himself  ridiculous, 
and  the  Quaker  was  getting  the  better  of  the  manoeuvres. 
An  intermediary  was  found  in  Andrew  Hamilton,  the 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  who  said  that  Israel  Pemberton, 
Sr.,  was  very  uneasy  "  at  his  son's  being  compelled  to  keep 
his  house  for  fear  of  being  taken  by  the  sheriff,  to  the  great 
prejudice  of  his  business,"  and  the  warrant  was  withdrawn. 

Israel  Pemberton  with  his  great  capacity  and  wide  inter- 
ests could  not  well  keep  out  of  public  life.     For    a    short 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  205 

time  he  was  in  the  Assembly  and  took  an  active  part  on  its 
important  committees.  After  the  Indian  War  of  1755  broke 
out  he  gave  the  most  of  his  time  and  much  money  to  striving 
for  a  reconciliation.  "  The  Friendly  Association  for  gain- 
ing and  preserving  peace  with  the  Indians  by  pacific  meas- 
ures," was  formed,  Israel  Pemberton  being  the  leading 
figure. 

The  Walking  Purchase  of  1737  and  the  subsequent  for- 
cible removal  of  the  Minisink  Indians  from  their  ancestral 
homes  between  the  Delaware  and  Lehigh  Rivers,  the  Albany 
Treaty  of  1754  when  the  Indian  rights  in  all  western  Penn- 
sylvania were  sold  to  the  Penns  by  the  Iroquois  without 
regard  to  the  dwellers  on  the  soil,  French  intrigue  and  the 
invasion  of  traders  and  settlers  had  transformed  the  Dela- 
ware and  Shawnese  Indians,  the  ancient  friends  of  William 
Penn,  into  bitter  and  inveterate  foes  of  the  frontier  white 
men  and  sent  them  into  warfare.  The  Friends  addressed 
the  Governor  offering  to  pay  "  a  much  larger  portion  of  our 
estates  than  the  heaviest  taxes  of  a  war  would  be  expected 
to  require  "  for  the  purpose  of  regaining  the  friendship.  The 
Association  hoped  first  to  detach  the  chief  Tedyuscung  and 
the  northern  Delawares  from  the  French  alliance.  A  large 
sum  of  money  was  raised,  chiefly  by  Friends,  partly  by 
sympathetic  German  sects,  to  purchase  presents.  Confer- 
ences were  held  at  Easton  in  1756,  at  Lancaster  in  1757 
and  again  at  Easton  in  1758.  Israel  Pemberton  carried 
£2000  to  Pittsburg  the  following  year  to  treat  with  the 
western  Indians.  The  Friends  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  their  diplomacy,  their  presents  and  their  in- 
fluence had  pacified  the  Indians  and  for  a  little  time  peace 
prevailed  on  the  frontier. 

The  Indians  appreciated  the  differences  among  the 
whites  and  saved  the  frontier  Quakers  from  the  tomahawk 
and  burning  buildings.     Israel  Pemberton  said  after  the 


2o6     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

1758  treaty,  "  It  was  by  justice  the  first  settlers  of  the 
province  obtained  their  (the  Indians)  friendship  and  the 
name  of  a  Quaker  of  the  same  spirit  as  William  Penn  still 
is  in  the  highest  estimation  among  their  old  men  .  .  .  and 
there  is  a  considerable  number  of  us  here  united  in  a  reso- 
lution to  endeaver  by  a  like  conduct  to  fix  the  same  good 
impression  of  all  of  us  in  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation." 
But  they  did  not  have  as  clear  a  field  as  William  Penn 
had.  The  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  agent  of  his  master  in 
England,  Thomas  Penn,  had  commercial  designs  on  Indian 
land  which  the  first  Proprietor  would  have  spurned.  His 
party  in  Pennsylvania  excited  by  Indian  outrages  on  the 
frontiers  and  by  the  hope  to  get  Quakers  out  of  the  gov- 
ernment pressed  him  for  vigorous  measures.  The  contest 
kept  up  for  years  with  alternate  success.  The  spirit  of  the 
Friendly  Association,  in  its  endeavor  to  smooth  the  way  on 
both  sides  is  conveyed  in  an  address  to  the  Governor  from 
a  meeting  held  in  Israel  Pemberton's  house  late  in  the  year 
1756  where  they  say: 

"  If  our  furnishing  them  a  supply  of  clothing  against  the 
approaching  winter  in  addition  to  what  is  provided  at  the 
public  expense  may  ...  be  consistent  with  the  Governor's 
pleasure  we  shall  cheerfully  provide  them  .  .  .  to  be  de- 
livered by  the  Governor  in  such  measure  as  will  most 
effectually  promote  the  public  service  and  express  our 
friendly  disposition  toward  them." 

It  was  to  this  cause  that  Israel  Pemberton  devoted  his 
energies  up  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  By  friends  and  foes 
alike  he  was  regarded  the  leader  of  the  movement.  "  King 
Wampum  "  became  another  of  his  pseudonyms.  Had  he 
had  a  free  field  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  might  have 
solved  the  problem  of  harmonizing  red  men's  rights  with 
white  men's  reasonable  desires.  He  did  restrain  several 
tribes  from  the  warpath  and  so  saved  the  lives  of  many 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  207 

frontiersmen.  But  while  his  friends  carried  the  legislative 
branch,  the  executive  was  out  of  their  reach  and  the  Indian 
question  was  ultimately  settled  by  the  military  arm  driving 
the  natives  from  the  Province,  the  Friends  tempering  the 
process  as  they  could. 

The  embitterment  of  the  frontiersmen,  especially  the 
settlers  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  towards  the  Quakers  was 
strikingly  shown  in  1764  when  a  band  of  them  after  ex- 
terminating the  Conestoga  tribe  in  Lancaster  County, 
marched  down  to  Philadelphia  with  the  ostensible  purpose 
of  giving  a  band  of  Moravian  Indians  the  same  ruthless 
treatment.  If  the  Quakers  made  any  show  of  resistance, 
they,  and  especially  Israel  Pemberton,  were  to  be  treated 
in  like  manner.  A  demand  was  made  that  he  be  given  up 
to  the  rioters.  Israel  seems  to  have  considered  prudence 
to  be  wise  under  the  circumstances  and  having  been  ad- 
vised that  his  life  was  in  danger  "  was  banished  for  a  few 
days." 

All  the  Friends,  however,  did  not  run  away  in  this  man- 
ner. Some  200  of  the  younger  among  them  opened  the 
Meeting  House  at  Market  and  Second  Street,  stacked  their 
arms  in  the  gallery  and  in  company  with  manj^  other  citi- 
zens awaited  the  attack.  The  "  Paxton  Boys  "  never  got 
further  than  Germantown  where  they  were  met  by  a  com- 
mittee of  which  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the  head,  per- 
suaded to  state  their  claims,  some  of  which  were  just,  and 
finding  that  they  had  no  chance  against  a  city  in  arms,  went 
back  to  their  homes. 

Xhen  followed  a  pamphlet  warfare  in  which  the  relative 
claims  of  Presbyt^rianism  and  Quakerism  were  discussed 
with  great  acerbity.  Benjamin  Franklin  came  to  the  front 
against  the  lynchers  and  was  gratefully  received  by  the 
Friends  as  an  ally.  "  The  Quaker  Unmasked  "  was  a  se- 
vere arraignment  of  their  policy,  which  was  replied  to  by 


2o8     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

'•The  Delineated  Presbyterian  Played  Hob  With."  The 
first  stated  that  "  to  govern  is  absolutely  repugnant  to  the 
avowed  principles  of  Quakerism  "  and  the  second,  "  to  be 
governed  is  absolutely  repugnant  to  the  avowed  principles 
of  Presbyterianism  "  —  both  of  which  statements  have  in 
them  an  element  of  truth.  There  were  many  stronger  and 
indecent  charges  made  and  Israel  Pemberton  was  the  tar- 
get of  a  large  share  of  them  without,  however,  so  far  as  we 
know,  provoking  any  reply  from  him.  He  weathered  the 
storm,  however,  in  the  esteem  of  his  friends  and  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  Indian  question  settled  in  Penn- 
sylvania for  colonial  times  with  as  much  justice  to  the  red 
men  as  could  reasonably  have  been  expected  in  the  excited 
condition  of  the  frontiersmen.  The  only  concession  which 
the  "  Boys  "  obtained  at  the  time  was  a  temporary  offer  of 
rewards  for  the  scalps  of  male  and  female  Indians,  a  strange 
edict  to  come  from  the  grandson  of  William  Penn. 

When  the  question  of  handing  over  the  government  to  the 
king  came  up  in  1764  and  the  general  feeling  against  the 
proprietors  became  so  strong  in  the  Province  as  to  turn 
most  of  the  Quaker  sentiment  away  from  them,  Israel 
Pemberton  took  the  conservative  position  along  with  Nor- 
ris  and  Dickinson.  In  a  private  letter  he  seriously  criti- 
cized the  unwise  policy  of  Thomas  Penn  and  his  selfish 
actions  towards  the  colonists  and  Indians,  but  he  judged, 
and  as  it  turned  out,  judged  rightly,  that  the  chances  of 
a  Crown  colony  were  no  better.  He  sympathized  strongly 
with  the  Speaker  in  his  efforts  to  defeat  the  transfer.  A 
paragraph  in  a  letter  of  his  probably  explains  as  fully  as 
anything  the  action  of  that  official  in  the  last  days  of  his 
public  life. 

"  We  expected  the  advice  and  conduct  of  Isaac  Norris, 
who  had  for  many  years  been  Speaker  of  our  Assembly, 
would  have  had  some  effect  but  in  this  we  were  disao- 


JAMES   PEMBERTON  209 

pointed.  Last  summer  being  in  a  weak  state  of  body,  and 
tired  out  with  the  tedious  controversies  with  the  Governor, 
when  he  found  the  Assembly  in  general  determined  in  pur- 
suing those  measures,  which  he  apprehended  it  unsafe  to  be 
accessory  to,  he  chose  to  resign  his  seat.  Some  change 
being  this  year  made  in  the  Assembly,  and  his  state  of  health 
much  recovered,  as  it  was  said  the  Governor  had  instruc- 
tions to  make  some  concessions,  he  entertained  the  hopes  of 
promoting  a  reconciliation,  and  restraining  from  precipitate 
measures.  He  then  was  induced  to  consent  to  accept  the 
Speaker's  seat  again,  but  when  he  found  the  Governor  de- 
clined communicating  anything  towards  a  reconciliation, 
and  that  the  maj  ority  of  the  present  Assembly  were  bent  on 
pursuing  the  measures  he  had  before  disapproved,  after 
giving  the  house  his  sentiments  thereon,  he  again  resigned 
his  seat  and  retired  home  heartily  concerned  for  the  un- 
happy circumstances  of  his  country,  which  he  could  neither 
redress  nor  prevent,  his  salutary  advice  being  rejected  with 
contempt  by  those  who  formerly  revered  it." 

The  reaction  from  any  tendency  towards  royal  govern- 
ment came  almost  immediately.  England  began  the  series 
of  taxation  experiments  which  a  decade  later  brought  on 
the  Revolutionary  War.  The  opposition  was  general.  Re- 
fusal to  pay  taxes,  agreements  for  non-importation  and  non- 
exportaticHl,  the  ejection  of  officers  who  were  deputed  to 
coll'ect  the  Stamp  taxes,  were,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
the  last,  quite  Quaker  methods  of  resistance.  The  names 
of  over  fifty  Friends  are  on  the  agreement  to  import  no  more 
English  goods,  and  the  list  includes  Israel  Pemberton.  They, 
however,  while  resisting,  counseled  moderation  and  it  is 
largely  due  to  this  that  the  measures  were  milder  than  in 
Boston.  Thus  when  the  tea  ship  came  in  1773  consigned 
to  a  Quaker  firm,  instead  of  the  spectacular  performance  of 
Boston  Harbor,  they  sent  it  back  without  unloading  the 
cargo,  loaning  the  captain  enough  to  victual.  If  some  of 
their  statements  seem  unnecessarily  loyal  in  tone,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  nearly  a  year  after  this  George  Washing- 


210     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

ton  had  declared,  "  No  such  thing  as  independence  is  de- 
sired by  any  thinking  man  in  America,"  and  John  Adams 
had  pledged  even  Massachusetts  to  the  statement,  '•'  That 
there  are  any  who  pant  after  independence  is  the  greatest 
slander  on  the  Province."  But  sentiment  developed  rapidly 
after  this. 

There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  Israel  Pemberton  and 
the  other  wealthy  Quaker  merchants  of  Philadelphia  were 
British  sympathizers  during  the  war.  That  many,  perhaps 
most,  of  the  membership  were  not  so  is  probable.  The 
Meetings  disowned  every  one  who  took  any  part,  how- 
ever slight,  in  resistance  in  either  direction  and  the  minutes 
show  some  400  who  in  this  way  brought  upon  themselves 
the  penalty  on  the  American  side  and  perhaps  not  more 
than  a  half  dozen  on  the  British.  The  testimony  against 
both  was  borne  impartially.  But  those  who  remained 
in  good  standing  adopted,  whatever  their  sympathies,  the 
policy  of  non-participation  because  of  conscientious  oppo- 
sition to  the  means  used.  It  is  at  least  probable  that  the 
Friends  who  actively  joined  the  American  forces  were  not 
without  the  consciousness  of  a  large  body  who  agreed  with 
their  objects  if  not  their  methods.  The  long  struggle  for 
liberty  against  Proprietary  and  Crown  encroachment  did 
not  leave  them  without  a  fellow  feeling  for  the  cause  even 
when  they  could  not  actively  join.  But  we  can  hardly 
include  in  this  list  the  Pembertons  and  their  closest 
associates. 

Perhaps  the  best  authority  on  the  Quaker  position  during 
the  war,  because  unbiased,  is  Brissot  de  Warville,  a  French 
traveler  who  went  through  the  country  in  1788,  afterwards 
guillotined  in  Paris  as  a  Girondist. 

"  It  was  at  this  epoch  (the  Revolution)  particularly  that 
an  animosity  was  excited  against  them  (the  Quakers) 
which  is  not  yet  entirely  allayed.     Faithful  to  their  reli- 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  211 

gious  principles,  they  declared  they  could  take  no  part  in 
the  war,  and  disavowed  or  excommunicated  every  member 
of  their  Society  who  served  with  either  the  American  or  the 
British  army.  .  .  .  Notwithstanding  my  principles,  I  do 
not  the  less  think  that  the  violent  persecution  of  the  Quakers 
for  their  pacific  neutrality  was  essentially  wrong. 

"  If  their  refusal  had  been  the  first  of  this  kind ;  if  it  had 
been  dictated  solely  by  their  attachment  to  the  British 
cause;  if  it  had  only  served  them  to  conceal  the  secret 
proofs  which  they  might  have  given  of  this  attachment, 
certainly  they  had  been  culpable  and  perhaps  persecution 
had  been  lawful.  But  this  neutrality  was  enjoined  upon 
them  by  the  religious  opinions  which  they  profess,  and 
which  they  have  practised  from  their  origin.  But  exclusive 
of  this,  whatever  prejudiced  or  ill  informed  writers  may 
have  asserted,  the  truth,  which  I  have  taken  great  pains  to 
obtain,  is  that  the  majority  of  the  Quakers  did  not  incline 
more  to  one  party  than  to  the  other ;  and  that  they  did  good 
indifferently  to  both,  and  in  fact  to  all  those  who  stood  in 
need  of  assistance.  If  some  of  the  Society  of  Quakers 
served  in  the  British  Army,  there  were  some  likewise  who 
served  in  the  American  army  —  and  amongst  others  may  be 
mentioned  the  names  of  Generals  Greene,  Mifflin  and  Lacy ; 
but  the  Society  excommunicated  indifferently  all  those  who 
took  up  arms.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  heard  no  one  speak  more  impartially  of  the  Qua- 
kers than  this  celebrated  man  (Washington)  whose  spirit 
of  justice  is  particularly  remarkable.  He  acknowledged  to 
me  that  in  the  course  of  the  war  he  had  entertained  an  un- 
favourable opinion  of  the  Society ;  he,  in  fact,  knew  little  of 
them,  because  at  that  period  there  were  few  members  of  the 
sect  in  Virginia.  He  attributed  to  their  political  sentiments 
what  was  the  effect  of  their  religious  principles.  When  he 
encamped  in  Chester  County,  principally  inhabited  by 
Quakers,  he  supposed  himself  to  be  in  the  enemy's  country, 
as  he  could  not  induce  a  single  Quaker  to  act  for  him  in  the 
character  of  a  spy.  But  no  one  served  as  a  spy  against  him 
in  the  employ  of  the  British  army.   .    .    . 

"  General  Washington,  having  since  better  understood  the 
spirit  of  the  Society,  concludes  by  esteeming  them.  He 
acknowledged  to  me  that,  on  considering  the  simplicity  of 


212     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

their  manners,  their  fondness  for  economy,  the  excellence  of 
their  morals,  and  the  good  example  they  afforded,  joined  to 
the  attachment  they  showed  for  the  Constitution,  he  re- 
garded them  as  the  best  citizens  of  the  new  government, 
which  required  a  great  degree  of  obedience  and  the  banish- 
ment of  luxury."  ^ 

John  Adams  in  his  Diary  tells  us  of  an  unexpected  en- 
counter with  Israel  Pemberton  when  in  1774  the  New  Eng- 
land delegation  came  to  Philadelphia  to  enlighten  the  Quak- 
ers and  others  as  to  the  principles  of  liberty  as  developed 
in  Massachusetts.  They  were  invited  to  a  meeting  in  Car- 
penters Hall  and  they  concluded  that  their  opportunity  had 
come.  But  the  Friends  took  charge  of  the  meeting.  Israel 
told  them  very  plainly  that  "  Friends  had  a  concern  about 
the  condition  of  things  in  Massachusetts;  that  they  had 
received  complaints  from  some  Anabaptists  and  some 
Friends  against  certain  laws  of  that  Province  restrictive  of 
liberty  of  conscience. 

"  The  laws  of  New  England  and  particularly  of  Massa- 
chusetts were  inconsistent  with  liberty  of  conscience  for 
they  not  only  compelled  men  to  pay  for  the  building  of 
churches  and  the  support  of  ministers  but  to  go  to  some 
known  religious  assembly  on  First-days;  and  that  he  and 
his  friends  were  desirous  of  engaging  us  to  assure  them 
that  our  state  would  repeal  all  those  laws  and  place 
things  as  they  were  in  Pennsylvania."  This  turning  of  the 
tables  was  a  sad  blow  to  the  complacency  of  the  delegates 
of  the  ''  Sons  of  Liberty."  They  denied  the  enforcement 
of  such  laws  of  recent  years  but  stated  that  "  they  might  as 
well  hope  to  turn  the  heavenly  bodies  out  of  their  annual 

1  "Nouveau  Voyage  dans  les  Etats-Unis  de  I'Amerique  Septen- 
trionale  fait  en  1788;  par  J.  P.  Brissot  (Warville),  Citoyen  Fran- 
cais."  The  portion  here  translated  is  omitted  in  the  English 
edition  of  1792.  See  Hazard's  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol. 
VIII,  page  315. 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  213 

and  diurnal  course  as  the  people  of  Massachusetts  at  the 
present  day  from  their  Meeting  House  and  Sunday  laws." 
They  then  began  to  explain  how  such  laws  were  compatible 
with  liberty  of  conscience  but  Pemberton  called  out,  "  Don't 
urge  liberty  of  conscience  in  favor  of  such  laws."  Unques- 
tionably the  Quaker  had  the  better  of  the  debate  for  the 
facts  were  on  his  side  and  Israel  Pemberton  was  too  ag- 
gressive a  pacifist  to  lose  the  opportunity. 

When  in  the  fall  of  1777  the  British  Army  was  approach- 
ing Philadelphia  the  American  government  undertook  to 
remove  leading  citizens  who  were  suspected  of  sympathy 
with  the  invading  force.  This  will  be  treated  more  fully 
later  in  this  chapter.  The  three  brothers  Pemberton  were 
arrested  and  by  a  rather  arbitrary  stretch  of  authority 
were  banished  for  eight  months  to  Winchester,  Virginia. 
They  were  then  released  with  something  of  an  apology. 
But  the  severe  winter  which  froze  up  the  American  Army 
at  Valley  Forge  was  too  much  for  the  Philadelphians  sud- 
denly removed  from  the  comforts  of  the  city  to  the  bleak 
quarters  of  west  Virginia.  Two  of  them  died  during  the 
winter  and  Israel  Pemberton  was  so  weakened  that  early 
in  1779  he  died  aged  64  years.  He  was  the  only  one  of  the 
brothers  who  left  any  descendants  of  the  name.  One  of 
these  by  a  strange  reversion  was  the  Southern  General 
Pemberton  who  surrendered  Vicksburg  to  General  Grant  in 
1863. 

James  Pemberton  writes  of  his  brother:  "  His  health  was 
much  impaired  by  a  fit  of  sickness  at  the  time  of  our  exile 
and  was  never  perfectly  restored.  The  various  afflictions 
with  which  he  was  of  late  years  encompassed  had  much 
contributed  to  weaken  his  constitution  and  vital  strength 
which  the  death  of  his  wife  six  months  before  his  own 
further  affected ;  but  by  exerting  himself  he  kept  about  most 
of  the  winter  and  was  active  on  many  necessary  occasions 


214     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

for  the  relief  of  the  afflicted  and  oppressed  with  whom  he 
always  nearly  sympathized  and  was  unwearied  in  his 
endeavors  to  promote  their  ease  and  redress,  on  which 
account  and  his  superior  abilities,  assiduity  and  resolution 
in  difficult  cases  relating  both  to  religion  and  civil  society 
he  is  and  will  be  much  missed  among  us,  his  integrity, 
benevolence  and  many  other  virtuous  qualifications  ren- 
dered him  generally  respected  and  his  death  greatly 
lamented." 

James  Pemberton  the  second  of  the  brothers  was  born 
in  1723.  He  had  all  the  opportunities  which  Philadelphia 
afforded  for  an  education,  with  a  year  in  England.  His 
brother  Israel  was  a  man  of  courage  and  initiative  full  of 
aggressive  plans  which  absorbed  his  energies  but  who  sel- 
dom allowed  himself  to  be  tied  down  to  official  life.  James 
was  the  useful  man,  the  politician,  the  ofiice  holder,  the 
letter  writer,  using  the  words  in  no  belittling  sense,  who 
while  aiding  his  brother's  large  interests  carried  on  the 
details  and  committee  work  most  efficiently  and  suc- 
cessfully. 

In  church  affairs  he  was  a  member  of  the  "  Meeting  for 
Sufferings,"  the  executive  body  of  Philadelphia  Friends, 
from  its  origin  in  1756  till  1808  a  few  months  before  his 
death.  He  was  for  about  thirty  years  including  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  the  Clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  the  prac- 
tical President  of  that  court  of  last  appeal  of  the  Quaker 
system.  He  was  on  important  committees  whenever  needed 
and  for  a  half  century  or  more  very  little  went  on  without 
his  co-operation  in  the  affairs  of  his  church. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  legislative  Assembly  of  the 
province  in  1755  and  1756  and  again  after  1765.  His 
letters  ^  are  a  mine  of  wealth  concerning  political  and  eccle- 

1  For  many  facts  in  this  paper  the  author  is  indebted  to  these 
manuscript  letters  not  previously  examined  for  purposes  of  pubhoa- 
tion. 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  215 

siastical  matters  in  the  provinces  from  his  view  point.  He 
was  an  intimate  associate  and,  except  in  matters  of  war- 
fare, a  strong  believer  in  Benjamin  Franklin.  He  founded 
the  Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society,  persuaded  Franklin 
to  accept  the  presidency  and  on  his  death  in  1790  succeeded 
him  in  the  place.  He  was  the  confidential  friend  of  Dr. 
Fothergill  and  David  Barclay  who  with  Dr.  Franklin 
attempted  the  not  unlikely  experiment  of  a  reconciliation 
of  England  with  the  provinces  just  before  the  war  and 
used  Pemberton  as  their  colonial  agent.  Their  letters  agree 
closely  with  Franklin's  account  in  his  Autobiography. 

The  Assembly  of  the  Province  was  made  up  largely  of 
farmers,  the  best  to  be  had.  They  were  honest,  intelligent, 
and  well-intentioned,  but  lacked  for  the  most  part  a  knowl- 
edge of  political  history  and  business  training.  The  oppor- 
tunities of  a  country  Friend  for  anything  but  an  elementary 
education  were  very  limited,  mostly  non-existent.  In  a 
clear  case  of  provincial  policy  their  judgment  could  be 
relied  on  to  do  the  right  thing.  Penn  had  drilled  into  them 
the  possession  of  certain  rights  as  to  legislation  which  they 
tenaciously  held  to.  How  they  came  to  be  selected  as 
candidates  is  an  interesting  but  unknown  subject.  Prob- 
ably as  there  was  but  little  emolument  and  no  graft  con- 
nected with  the  office  there  was  no  great  competition,  but 
by  some  process  of  nomination  the  Quaker  machine  main- 
tained its  supremacy  and  sent  from  the  three  populous 
counties  a  practically  unanimous  line  of  these  sectaries  up 
to  1756.  feven  from  the  frontier  counties  mostly  made  up 
of  non-Quakers  from  Germany  it  often  happened  that  a 
Friend  was  selected  to  represent  their  views  on  peace  or 
taxation. 

In  such  an  Assembly  men  like  David  Lloyd,  John  Kin- 
sey,  Isaac  Norris  and  James  Pemberton  with  their  legal 
and  business  training,  their  large  contact  with  the  world, 


2i6     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

their  sturdy  character  and  their  sympathetic  appreciation 
of  the  point  of  view  of  their  simple  and  trustful  associates 
would  have  unlimited  influence  and  create  the  unity  of 
action  in  plans  and  policy,  so  strikingly  displayed  in  the 
legislative  history  of  the  province.  The  City  of  Philadel- 
phia had  two  members  and  each  of  the  counties  surrounding 
it  eight.  Towards  the  end  of  the  provincial  period  new 
counties  were  taken  in,  and  an  apportionment,  probably 
unfair,  gave  them  a  smaller  representation.  The  city  mem- 
bers were  largely  depended  on  to  supply  the  leadership  and 
while  the  Quaker  population  there  found  it  more  difficult 
than  in  the  country  to  carry  its  representation,  they  often 
succeeded  when  a  strong  man  like  James  Pemberton  could 
be  found  to  lead  them.  We  find  him  therefore  frequently 
elected  and  serving  on  the  most  important  posts. 

The  constitution  gave  them  rather  unusual  privileges  for 
a  colonial  legislature.  The  right  to  meet  without  call  from 
any  power,  to  adjourn  at  will,  to  be  free  from  arrest,  to 
control  money  affairs,  to  have  their  laws  recognized  unless 
vetoed  by  the  crown  and  the  other  rights  as  claimed  by  the 
advanced  freemen  of  the  day,  were  guaranteed  to  them  in 
Penn's  Frame  of  1701  and  they  were  always  looking  very 
seriously  at  anything  that  seemed  an  infringement.  But 
when  it  came  to  putting  this  sensitive  feeling  into  action 
they  had  to  depend  on  the  creative  wisdom  and  literary 
ability  of  the  city  members.  It  was  probably  no  great  dis- 
advantage that  they  had  to  fight  at  the  polls  for  their  rights 
during  these  years.  It  kept  the  sentiment  for  liberty  awake 
and  in  action.  The  details  were  somewhat  unlike  those 
in  New  England,  but  each  was  approaching  the  same  goal 
by  a  different  method,  the  Puritan  by  a  process  which 
was  sure  to  culminate  in  avowed  resistance,  the  Quaker  by 
legal  methods,  by  appeal  and  argument,  by  a  refusal  to 
obey  oppressive  laws,  and  a  willingness  to  take  the  conse- 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  217 

quences  of  disobedience.  Had  they  been  able  to  control 
the  province  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War  a 
test  of  the  efficacy  of  their  policy  might  have  been  made, 
but  the  action  of  1756  put  them  out  of  power,  as  they 
probably  did  not  appreciate,  forever. 

In  the  spring  of  1755  the  Quarterly  Meeting  of  Philadel- 
phia largely  under  Pemberton  influence  sent  to  London  a 
paper  explaining  the  circumstances  of  Quaker  ascendency 
in  the  legislature.  They  told  how  the  Friends  had  been 
elected  without  exertion  on  their  part  often  against  their 
wishes,  and  that  this  applied  to  counties  where  they  were 
in  a  minority  as  well  as  others;  that  for  sixteen  years  they 
had  been  kept  in  power  by  voters  who  did  not  share  their 
pacific  principles;  that  their  policy  had  advanced  the  inter- 
est of  the  proprietors  by  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
province;  and  that  if  there  were  others  who  could  be  relied 
upon  to  preserve  the  liberties  guaranteed  by  the  charter  and 
maintained  by  them  they  would  be  quite  willing  to  be 
relieved  of  the  thankless  task  of  engaging  in  the  controver- 
sies of  the  times.  It  was  the  last  defense  of  active  Quaker 
participation  in  politics  and  in  the  main  unanswerable. 

But  when  in  the  crisis  of  1756  the  London  Friends  ad- 
vised abstention  to  save  the  general  imposition  of  an  oath, 
James  Pemberton  and  six  other  Friends  gave  up  their  places 
in  the  Assembly.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  break. 
The  meetings  acting  on  the  advice  used  their  efforts  to  have 
others  withdraw  and  four  more  yielded  and  resigned.  In 
the  fall  a  number  refused  reelection.  James  Pemberton 
probably  held  the  key  to  the  situation  and  his  action  deter- 
mined the  loss  of  direct  Quaker  control  for  the  future. 

But  the  habits  and  instincts  developed  by  seventy  years 
of  political  control  died  slowly.  For  the  next  ten  years 
there  might  at  any  time  have  been  a  Quaker  Assembly,  if 
the  meetings  had  not  exerted  themselves  to  prevent  it.    In 


2i8     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

1761  after  the  war  ended  there  was  probably  a  majority  of 
nominal  Friends,  but  steadily  the  "  weighty  "  Friends  op- 
posed. James  Pemberton  whose  political  tendencies  were 
hard  to  keep  down,  made  a  sort  of  an  apology  for  accept- 
ing reelection  in  1765.  He  agreed  "  with  reluctance " 
"  through  solicitation  of  Friends  "  "  to  keep  out  an  envious 

Pres n."     (It  will  be  remembered  that  this  was  in  the 

hot  days  of  the  Presbyterian-Quaker  controversy  following 
the  Paxton  riots  of  the  year  before.)  "  Valuable  interests 
were  suffering  because  no  one  properly  represented  them," 
and  so  on.  The  troubles  which  led  up  to  the  Revolutionary 
War  seem  to  have  convinced  most  Friends  that  they  had 
better  confine  their  attention  to  local  and  moral  affairs. 

In  the  controversy  over  the  transfer  of  the  government 
to  the  King  he  inclined  to  take  the  popular  side  for  he  was 
much  opposed  to  the  demands  of  the  Proprietors.  At  least 
he  says  while  not  expecting  much  from  the  Crown,  he  thinks 
that  the  agitation  will  bring  the  Proprietors  to  terms.  His 
idea  of  the  attitude  of  a  Quaker  politician  in  a  contest  is 
expressed  by  the  statement,  "  Christian  charity  teaches  us 
to  forgive  our  enemies  and  Christian  prudence  to  beware 
of  them."  He  supported  the  idea  of  sending  Franklin  to 
England  and  writes  Dr.  Fothergili :  "  No  man  in  the  prov- 
ince has  been  so  influential  in  promoting  the  public  good; 
the  most  useful  institutions  we  have  among  us  may  be 
attributed  in  great  measure  to  his  great  understanding  and 
disinterested  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  province." 

Among  the  institutions  referred  to  the  Pennsylvania  Hos- 
pital is  prominent.  It  was  a  Quaker  concern  from  the  start. 
In  1709  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  Philadelphia  made  a  move 
in  this  direction  by  sending  over  to  England  by  James 
Logan  a  request  for  financial  aid  and  a  charter  for  a  hos- 
pital. What  reception  this  met  with  is  unknown,  except 
that  nothing  resulted. 


I 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  219 

In  1751  Dr.  Thomas  Bond  and  Benjamin  Franklin  took 
up  the  matter  again.  In  a  little  time  popular  subscription 
and  an  appropriation  from  the  legislature  gave  the  neces- 
sary financial  basis,  and  thus  started  the  first  hospital  for 
sick  and  insane  in  the  new  world.  The  largest  contribu- 
tors were  Friends  and  so  were  a  majority  of  the  managers 
for  150  years.  Israel  Pemberton,  Jr.,  served  on  the  board 
from  1751  until  his  death  in  1779  and  James  Pemberton 
from  1756  to  1780  when  he  resigned  "  for  various  consid- 
erations." Such  work  was  strictly  in  line  with  the  Pem- 
berton idea  of  charity,  to  all  branches  of  which  they  were 
liberal  contributors  of  time  and  money.  The  hospital 
served  as  a  sort  of  headquarters  for  Quaker  leadership  in 
the  days  following  1750  as  did  the  college,  now  university, 
for  the  Episcopalians. 

About  the  same  time  James  Pemberton  sent  in  an  earnest 
protest  against  New  England  Friends  "  removing  to  settle 
on  the  lands  in  Nova  Scotia  from  whence  the  poor  unhappy 
neutrals  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  war  removed,  as  such 
a  settlement  does  not  appear  suitable  for  any  under  our 
profession  when  we  consider  the  manner  these  distressed 
people  were  dispossessed."  As  at  this  time  he  was 
interested  in  all  the  city  charities  it  is  not  a  large  stretch 
of  imagination  for  Longfellow  to  note  the  ministrations  of 
Evangeline  in  the  Friends'  Alms  House  where  "  her  ear  was 
pleased  with  the  Thee  and  Thou  of  the  Quakers." 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  authorities  in  the 
troublous  days  of  September,  1777,  should  have  been 
looking  for  British  sympathizers  in  Philadelphia.  Sir  Wil- 
liam Howe  was  marching  his  army  toward  the  city  from 
the  Chesapeake.  This  corner  of  Pennsylvania  had  never 
been  warm  for  the  war.  There  were  outspoken  militant 
Tories  besides  the  non-militant  Friends,  and  spying  was 
evidently  going  on  extensively.  How  far  Friends  were 
actively  implicated  they  did  not  know. 


220     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

To  ascertain  this  the  minutes  of  the  various  Meetings 
were  seized.  Those  of  us  who  since  that  time  have  had 
the  opportunity  to  read  these  volumes,  know  that  there 
was  nothing  stronger  than  appeals  to  the  members  to  be 
faithful  to  their  principles.  So  the  oJBicials  found;  and  the 
books  were  soon  returned.  Then  they  decided  to  banish 
a  group  of  the  more  suspicious  people,  striking  more  par- 
ticularly those  whose  prominence  would  produce  popular 
effect.  About  forty  were  selected  of  whom  nearly  half 
were  Friends.  They  were  not  tried  or  heard,  though  they 
sent  urgent  appeals  and  statements  of  their  position  to  the 
Council  of  the  State,  to  Congress,  and  to  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania.  Chief  Justice  McKean  allowed  a  writ  of 
Habeas  Corpus  which  was  ignored.  Their  private  papers 
were  examined  and  nothing  incriminating  was  found.  Then 
they  were  offered  freedom  on  taking  oath  or  affirmation 
of  fidelity  to  the  new  government,  which  seemed  too  much 
like  a  confession  of  guilt  for  most  of  them  to  agree  to. 
Other  tests  were  applied  and  the  list  was  reduced  to  twenty, 
of  whom  seventeen  were  Friends.  The  decree  was  that 
they  were  to  be  banished  to  Staunton  (changed  to  Win- 
chester), Virginia,  at  their  own  expense.  This  banishment 
lasted  until  spring,  when  General  Washington  intervened 
on  their  behalf,  and  the  orders  came  to  conduct  them  back 
to  Philadelphia  through  the  lines  of  both  armies  "  treating 
them  on  the  road  with  that  polite  attention  and  care  which 
is  due  to  men  who  act  on  the  purest  motives,  to  gentlemen 
whose  stations  in  life  entitle  them  to  respect  however  they 
may  differ  in  political  sentiments  from  those  in  whose  power 
they  are." 

A  sort  of  a  joint  journal  was  kept,  written  by  James 
Pemberton  which  has  been  printed.  Two  of  the  exiles  suc- 
cumbed to  the  severe  treatment  and  died  in  Virginia  and 
others  were  greatly  weakened.     Almost  immediately  on  their 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  221 

return  they  joined  with  other  Friends  in  another  appeal  to 
the  members  for  fidelity  to  the  anti-war  attitude  of  the 
past. 

When  the  war  was  over  the  energies  of  James  Pemberton 
were  directed  largely  to  two  causes  in  addition  to  the  gen- 
eral work  of  the  Society.  If  he  desired  further  political 
life,  which  is  doubtful,  it  probably  would  not  have  been 
accorded  him  for  a  decade,  for  by  meeting  action  and  popu- 
lar wish  it  was  denied  to  Friends. 

He  was  interested  in  educational  movements  among 
Friends.  Evidently  the  cause  was  at  a  low  ebb,  and  all 
the  more  so  because  many  of  the  better  educated  Philadel- 
phia Friends  had  actively  espoused  the  American  side  in 
the  war  and  been  disowned.  The  country  Friends,  worthy, 
moral,  traditional  people,  had  nothing  but  their  elementary 
schools  attached  to  the  meeting  houses  to  give  them  train- 
ing. There  are  probably  few  opportunities  for  education 
better  than  the  conjunction  of  an  aspiring  youth  with  an 
inspiring  teacher  in  an  ungraded  school,  and  such  oppor- 
tunities sometimes  present  themselves.  But  neither  side  of 
the  condition  was  fulfilled  in  most  cases  and  a  rather 
materialistic  attitude  relieved  somewhat  by  the  idealism 
of  some  of  the  preaching  in  meeting  was  settling  down  on 
the  Society.  The  objection  to  theological  training  as  un- 
necessary was  extended  to  mean  objection  to  higher  educa- 
tion as  undesirable,  and  mediocrity  was  spreading  its 
dangerous  hold.  James  Pemberton  was  a  friend  and  active 
correspondent  of  John  Dickinson,  Owen  Biddle  and  others 
who  had  a  larger  vision  and  a  better  background  and  in 
course  of  time  Westtown  Boarding  School  evolved  from 
the  controversy,  opening  its  doors  in  1799.  The  school  itself 
was  for  some  time  largely  elementary  but  it  gave  to  certain 
Friendly  youths  a  chance  to  come  in  contact  with  a  better 
type  of  scholarship  than  they  had  been  used  to  and  was 
the  beginning  of  better  days. 


222     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

The  other  interest  for  which  James  Pemberton  wrought 
most  assiduously  was  less  denominational  —  the  cause  of 
anti-slavery.  The  Friends  had  cleared  themselves  during 
the  war  of  holding  slaves  and  had  at  least  partially  paid 
the  freed  negroes  for  past  services.  Pennsylvania  in  1780, 
the  first  among  the  states,  passed  a  law  for  gradual  aboli- 
tion. Past  efforts  had  reduced  the  number  of  slaves  in  the 
state  to  about  4,000,  while  in  the  surrounding  states  there 
were  103,000  in  Maryland,  9,000  in  Delaware,  11,000  in 
New  Jersey  and  21,000  in  New  York  and  the  people  were 
ready  almost  unanimously  for  a  forward  move  in  the  nation 
at  large.  The  Yearly  Meeting  in  1783  sent  to  the  Congress 
of  the  Confederation  a  paper  asking  it  to  take  steps  towards 
abolishing  the  slave  trade  signed  by  535  Friends,  but  that 
body  was  too  powerless  to  do  anything.  As  soon  as  the 
national  government  was  formed  they  again  made  an  at- 
tempt. They  called  attention  to  the  former  paper  which  had 
been  followed  by  action  in  a  number  of  states,  and  appealed 
to  the  Golden  Rule  as  the  basis  of  action.  An  acrimonious 
debate  followed.  A  year  later  a  petition  from  Warner 
Mifflin,  a  Friend  from  Delaware,  who  had  freed  and  taken 
care  of  his  own  slaves  was  "  returned  to  him  by  the  clerk 
of  the  House  "  after  serious  controversy.  Again  in  1797  a 
Quaker  memorial  produced  a  violent  debate. 

These  petitions  while  creating  no  immediate  legislation 
did  bring  about  a  large  growth  of  popular  sentiment.  Dur- 
ing all  the  years  up  to  the  Civil  War  Friendly  action  stim- 
ulated and  to  a  large  extent  led  the  anti-slavery  movement. 

These  early  congressional  debates  brought  out  the  stand- 
ing of  Friends  as  to  their  war  attitude.  The  Southerners 
attacked  them  as  undesirable  citizens  on  account  of  their 
record.  "  We  took  each  other  with  our  mutual  bad  habits 
and  respective  evils  for  better,  for  worse;  the  northern 
states  adopted  us  with  our  slaves  and  we  adopted  them 


JAMES  PEMBERTON  223 

with  their  Quakers,"  said  Smith  of  South  Carolina.  On 
the  other  hand  the  northern  Congressmen  especially  those 
from  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  were  their  eulogists. 
Boudinot,  the  Commissary-General  during  the  war  testified 
that  their  voluntary  relief  of  suffering  had  greatly  aided 
the  situation. 

James  Pemberton  during  these  times  was  President  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery  which  he  had  founded  and  of  which  he  was  the 
mainstay,  and  to  this  cause  he  gave  much  of  the  energy  of 
his  declining  years.  He  died  in  1809,  eighty-five  years  old, 
greatly  respected. 


JOHN    DICKINSON 

The  men  whose  lives  we  have  been  considering  divided 
their  interest  in  state  and  church  in  varying  proportions. 
Thomas  Lloyd  was  primarily  a  minister  and  reluctantly 
assumed  the  burdens  which  his  pre-eminent  fitness  placed 
upon  him  as  political  leader  of  the  colony.  David  Lloyd 
was  an  ingrained  politician  looked  upon  at  least  in  his 
earlier  days  with  considerable  distrust  by  the  Friends  of 
weight  in  the  meeting,  but  ever  faithful  to  the  traditions 
and  testimonies  of  the  Society.  James  Logan  and  his  son- 
in-law  Isaac  Norris  tried  to  put  Quaker  principles  into 
active  operation  but  found  the  difficulties  so  great  in  the 
case  of  those  relating  to  warfare,  that  they  somewhat  com- 
promised. John  Kinsey  held  his  own  in  both  fields  with 
remarkable  success  and  was  trusted  as  a  shrewd  and  clear- 
sighted political  leader,  no  less  than  as  the  man  of  influence 
and  power  in  his  Yearly  Meeting.  James  Pemberton 
equally  faithful  in  both  never  had  the  preeminence  of 
Kinsey  in  either,  but  was  always  a  most  useful  and  intelli- 
gent citizen  and  churchman, 

John  Dickinson  was  very  little  of  a  Friend  in  his  early 
life.  Though  descended  on  both  sides  from  Quaker  ances- 
tors, finding  his  wife  in  a  Quaker  household,  and  leaving 
children  imbued  with  Quaker  loyalty  and  ideals,  it  is  not 
certain  that  he  was  ever  a  member,  and  as  we  shall  see  later, 
it  was  not  till  old  age  that  his  sympathies  were  given  to 
the  Quaker  connection. 

He  was  descended  from  a  Quaker  family  who  emigrated 
to  Virginia  in  1654  and  a  few  years  later  moved  to  the 

224 


JOHN  DICKINSON  225 

Eastern  shore  of  Maryland  at  a  plantation  which  they  called 
Crosia-dore.  Here  John  Dickinson  was  born  on  November 
8th,  1732.  His  father  was  Samuel  Dickinson  a  lawyer,  and 
afterward  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Kent  County,  Delaware. 
His  mother  was  Mary  Cadwalader,  sister  of  the  noted  Dr. 
Thomas  Cadwalader  of  Philadelphia.  Judge  Dickinson 
meant  to  give  his  son  the  best  education  the  colonies  af- 
forded. But  the  three  colleges  then  in  existence.  Harvard, 
William  and  Mary,  and  Yale,  were  too  ecclesiastical  in 
scope  and  spirit  to  attract  a  Quaker.  John  was  confided 
to  the  care  of  a  young  Irishman,  William  Killen,  afterward 
Chief  Justice  of  Delaware.  From  this  nationality  not  a 
few  of  the  teachers  of  the  Middle  States  in  colonial  times 
were  drawn.  It  proved  a  happy  choice  and  the  bright  boy, 
through  his  training  in  the  classics,  secured  an  English  style, 
simple,  direct,  and  eloquent,  upon  which  was  based  much 
of  the  effectiveness  of  his  later  writings. 

When  he  was  18  years  old  he  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  and 
entered  the  office  of  the  leading  attorney  of  the  town,  John 
Moland.  After  three  years  of  study  here  he  induced  his 
father  to  send  him  to  London  to  enter  as  a  student  of  law 
at  the  Inns  of  Court.  Here  he  had  the  best  training  pos- 
sible for  an  English  speaking  youthful  lawyer.  He  devel- 
oped the  legal  and  historical  interests  so  conspicuously 
useful  in  his  political  career,  and  which  gave  the  bias  to 
his  mind,  which  later  contrasted  so  strongly  with  the  New 
England  patriots  with  whom  he  was  to  work  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  nation.  While  they  appealed  to  the  rights 
of  man  he  sought  his  sanction  in  history  and  constitutional 
principle.  While  they  became  excited  and  revolutionary 
he  approached  the  questions  calmly  and  reasonably,  and 
after  a  certain  point  conservatively. 

In  1757  we  find  him  again  in  Philadelphia  starting  the 
practice  of  law.     As  a  lawyer  he  achieved  an  early  success 


226"   POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

though  as  a  biographer  says  "  He  possessed  considerable 
fluency,  with  a  sweetness  of  tone  and  an  agreeable  modula- 
tion of  voice.  .  .  .  His  law  knowledge  was  respectable 
though  not  remarkably  extensive  for  his  attention  was 
directed  to  historical  and  political  studies." 

His  public  life  began  in  1760  at  the  age  of  28  when  he  was 
elected  to  the  Delaware  legislature.  The  two  provinces  had 
both  been  the  property  of  William  Penn,  and  while  their 
legislatures  separated  in  1701  the  Penn  Family  appointed 
the  governor  in  both,  sometimes  the  same  person.  Their 
public  men  were  somewhat  interchangeable,  and  John  Dick- 
inson after  the  war  at  different  times  held  the  Governorship 
of  both  states. 

Two  years  later  he  was  elected  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  from  the  City  of  Philadelphia.  This  was  just 
when  the  question  of  the  advisability  of  appealing  to  the 
crown  to  substitute  royal  for  proprietary  government  was 
becoming  acute.  Franklin  was  urging  it  and  Joseph  Gal- 
loway, a  legal  competitor  of  Dickinson's,  was  making 
effective  speeches  for  the  movement.  The  most  of  the 
country  Friends  somewhat  exasperated  by  the  proprietary 
pretensions  had  been  swerving  to  the  same  side.  The  older 
city  Friends  of  weight  and  influence  led  by  the  Speaker 
Isaac  Norris  held  back,  partly  from  attachment  to  the  old 
William  Penn  Charter  of  1701  under  which  they  were  still 
working,  partly  because  they  feared  the  unknown  possibil- 
ities of  royal  rule.  Franklin  and  Dickinson  the  mature 
man  of  the  world  and  the  youthful  student  of  history  and 
law  were  the  chief  opponents  in  this  contest  as  they  were 
in  many  others  to  follow. 

The  policy  of  the  Penns  was  certainly  indefensible.  The 
refusal  to  pay  their  share  of  the  taxes  on  their  immense 
estates,  their  binding  their  deputies  by  secret  instructions, 
which  would  be  revealed  after  the  Assembly  had  wrestled 


JOHN  DICKINSON  227 

for  weeks  with  a  subject  and  had  drawn  up  a  bill  only  to 
find  that  it  had  all  the  while  been  impossible  to  have  it 
passed,  the  frequent  attempts  to  drive  the  Friends  from  the 
legislature  by  the  enforcement  of  an  oath  of  oflBce,  the  selfish 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  Indians  which  had  provoked 
war,  the  opposition  to  paper  money  issues  which  had  largely 
but  conservatively  stimulated  trade,  had  created  a  settled 
and  reasonable  hostility  to  their  rule,  and  had  produced  a 
mass  of  adverse  but  ineffective  legislation.  The  Penns, 
secure  in  England  as  they  deemed  themselves  to  be  in  their 
now  enormous  returns  from  quit-rents  and  the  sale  of  land, 
thought  they  could  afford  to  defy  opposition.  But  one  re- 
source seemed  left  to  the  colonists,  to  force  the  power  from 
their  hands  and  trust  to  the  chances  of  better  times  under 
a  governor  appointed  by  the  crown. 

Dickinson  was  therefore  on  the  unpopular  side  as  was 
frequently  the  case  in  his  future  political  life.  While 
admitting  the  grievances  under  proprietary  rule  he  mis- 
trusted the  British  ministry,  and  the  course  of  events,  begin- 
ning almost  immediately  after  this,  justified  his  sagacity. 

At  present  however  the  province  was  in  the  throes  of  an 
Indian  War  provoked  primarily  by  the  injustice  of  the 
whites,  but  immediatelj^  by  the  conspiracy  of  Pontiac.  The 
Delawares  and  Shawnese,  the  friends  of  Onas  for  70  years, 
the  "  women  "  of  the  Iroquois,  were  now  the  fiercest  of 
border  ruffians.  The  Assembly,  now  non-Quaker,  voted  sup- 
plies liberally  for  defense.  The  Penns  yielding  something  to 
the  necessities  of  the  case  still  insisted  on  unreasonably  low 
taxation  for  their  land,  and  their  Governor  vetoed  a  bill  of 
supplies,  preferring  that  the  frontiersmen  should  suffer  rather 
than  submit  to  an  equitable  demand.  The  Assembly  more 
humane  yielded  the  point  and  the  feeling  against  the  Pro- 
prietors did  not  diminish  by  the  incident. 

Galloway  expressed  the  general  demand  in  a  series  of 


228     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

resolutions  when  in  1764  the  Assembly  met.  They  were 
in  response  to  a  number  of  petitions  signed  by  country 
Friends,  their  chief  opponents  the  Presbyterians  of  the  fron- 
tiers, and  by  the  Germans.  On  the  other  side  were  the 
Episcopalians,  Presbyterians  and  Friends  of  Philadelphia 
who  advised  holding  to  the  old  Charter. 

The  resolutions  were  passed  all  but  unanimously,  appar- 
ently in  Dickinson's  absence,  but  on  May  26th  he  made  a 
famous  speech,  which  while  it  did  not  change  the  vote  in 
the  Assembly  had  a  powerful  effect  on  popular  opinion. 
The  speeches  of  Galloway  and  Dickinson  were  printed  and 
are  both  masterly  statements  of  their  positions.  Both  were 
based  on  real  arguments  and  studied  logic,  fortified  by 
historical  examples  and  constitutional  principles.^ 

"  Benjamin  Franklin  and  John  Dickinson  greatly  distin- 
guished themselves,  the  first  as  a  politician  the  other  as  an 
orator  "  says  Samuel  Foulke  a  colleague. 

Dickinson  however  carried  with  him  neither  the  house 
nor  his  constituents  for  he  was  defeated  for  election  for  the 
five  following  years.  Franklin  again  went  to  England  to 
urge  the  decisions  of  the  Assembly,  but  the  series  of  attempts 
at  British  taxation  beginning  about  the  same  time  he  was 
advised  by  his  friends  not  to  hurry  the  issue,  and  the  dawn 
of  the  harassing  legislation  which  led  up  to  the  Revolu- 

*  The  debate  produced  most  angry  feelings  between  tlie  two 
main  contestants  and  Dickinson  challenged  Galloway  to  a  duel, 
which  was  declined.  "That  a  Quaker  should  challenge  a  Quaker 
may  well  cause  surprise,"  says  a  biographer.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
probablj^  neither  was  a  Quaker,  though  both  were  members  of 
Quaker  families.  In  the  histories  of  the  times  the  term  Quaker 
was  used  rather  freely  to  include  all  who  belonged  to  the  "Quaker 
Party"  or  who  took  affirmations  instead  of  oaths,  or  whose  families 
were  of  this  persuasion. 

Dickinson  was  greatly  inflamed  and  says  in  his  reply,  "Pre- 
sumptions indeed  must  I  appear  should  I  venture  into  these  lists, 
against  a  person  who  wields  the  weapons  of  wordy  war  —  the  only 
weapons  he  dares  to  wield." 


JOHN  DICKINSON  229 

tionary  War  soon  took  away  all  wishes  for  a  royal  govern- 
ment. In  1770  Dickinson  triumphantly  came  back  into 
the  Assembly. 

In  the  meantime  he  entered  upon  a  series  of  studies  and 
writings  which  extended  his  fame  far  beyond  the  bound- 
aries of  his  province.  The  Indian  wars  were  over  for  the 
time,  the  French  had  been  driven  from  the  continent,  and 
now  England  began  to  levy  taxes  to  pay  the  bills  incurred 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Americans.  John  Dickinson  brought 
his  constitutional  knowledge  and  effective  style  into  the 
defense  of  the  colonies  against  taxation  imposed  from  Eng- 
land. A  paper  against  the  Stamp  Act  was  widely  read  and 
made  him  a  delegate  to  the  impotent  Congress  of  the  Colo- 
nies of  October,  1764,  called  to  announce  the  conditions 
on  which  they  were  willing  to  be  taxed. 

But  two  years  later  came  the  first  of  the  "  Farmer's  Let- 
ters "  which  gave  their  author  the  first  place  in  America 
as  leader  of  the  opposition  to  Britain's  pretensions.  From 
this  time  till  1776  this  young  man  in  his  thirties  was  pro- 
claimed as  the  rising  hope  of  the  defenders  of  American 
rights. 

The  Farmer's  Letters,  fourteen  in  number,  following  each 
other  in  rapid  succession,  read  by  all  classes,  solidified  and 
made  consistent  and  logical  the  gathering  feeling  against 
the  mother  country.  They  seemed  to  prove  the  justice  and 
reasonableness  of  the  position  and  propounded  a  theory  on 
which  all  could  unite.  For  though  many  fell  away  when 
it  came  to  independence,  there  were  but  few  who  did  not 
now  have  a  lurking  feeling  that  they  were  being  imposed 
upon.  The  letters  crystallized  and  made  respectable  this 
feeling  by  a  political  philosophy  which  satisfied  the  edu- 
cated and  the  ignorant  alike.  They  referred  to  English  law 
to  prove  that  constitutional  resistance  was  sanctioned  and 
so  made  easy  the  conversion  of  the  conservative  lovers  of 


230     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

the  old  country,  and  they  contained  the  appeal  to  colonial 
patriotism  which  warmed  the  hearts  of  many  who  were  just 
beginning  to  think  that  more  than  constitutional  resistance 
might  soon  be  possible.  For  the  present  however  they  dis- 
armed the  movement  for  more  serious  measures  by  showing 
that  legal  remedies  might  produce  the  result  desired. 

Boston  in  a  town  meeting  voted  "  that  the  thanks  of  the 
town  be  given  to  the  ingenious  author  of  a  course  of  letters 
published  at  Philadelphia,  and  in  this  place,  signed  '  A 
Farmer  '  wherein  the  rights  of  American  subjects  are  clearly 
stated  and  fully  vindicated."  Princeton  gave  him  an  hon- 
orary LL.D.  All  social  organizations  of  Philadelphia 
opened  their  doors  to  him.  Translated  into  French  they 
were  widely  read  and  praised,  and  did  something  to  develop 
the  sentiment  of  that  fermenting  nation.  John  Dickinson 
was  the  great  man  of  America.  Nothing  could  be  done 
without  his  leadership.  He  carried  his  conservative  friends 
with  him  in  non-importation  and  non-exportation  agree- 
ments and  in  numerous  remonstrances  and  commercial  at- 
tacks upon  British  interests. 

True  to  his  feeling  that  force  was  not  now  the  proper 
remedy  against  oppression  he  mildly  disapproved  of  the 
destruction  of  the  tea  in  the  Boston  Harbor  and  thereby 
incurred  the  reprobation  of  Samuel  Adams  and  the  more 
revolutionary  Bostonians.  His  settlement  of  the  question 
was  better  expressed  by  the  Philadelphia  method  which 
sent  the  tea  ship  back  to  England  without  unloading,  ad- 
vancing money  to  the  captain  to  revictual  her. 

It  was  however  deemed  of  great  importance  to  have 
Dickinson  vigorously  espouse  the  Boston  side  of  the  con- 
troversy and  Paul  Revere  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  in  1774 
to  insure  the  cooperation  of  that  city.  Dickinson  would 
however  go  no  farther  than  to  express  his  sympathy  with 
Boston  and  to  counsel  conciliation.    The  gentlemen  through 


JOHN  DICKINSON  231 

whom  Revere  acted,  Thomas  Mifflin,  Charles  Thompson 
and  Joseph  Reed,  one  a  Friend,  another  closely  associated 
with  them,  knew  that  for  any  united  and  effective  Phila- 
delphia support  which  would  include  Friends,  Dickinson 
must  be  secured.  They  tried  every  means  to  win  him  with- 
out further  success.  Thompson  says  "  The  Quakers  courted 
and  seemed  to  depend  upon  him."  Indeed  he  appears  to 
have  had  the  unlimited  confidence  of  all  parties  and  it  was 
admitted  that  no  movement  could  succeed  except  with  his 
concurrence. 

Then  came  the  days  of  the  Continental  Congress.  Dick- 
inson was  a  member  from  Pennsylvania  and  up  to  the  date 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  wrote  the  most  of  its 
state  papers.  It  was  these  papers  that  drew  from  Lord 
Chatham  the  eulogy  "  I  must  declare  and  avow  that  in  the 
master  states  of  the  world  I  know  not  the  people  or  the 
Senate  who  in  such  a  complication  of  difficult  circumstances 
can  stand  in  preference  to  the  delegates  of  America  assem- 
bled in  General  Congress  in  Philadelphia." 

These  papers  were  the  last  hopeless  efiforts  to  avert  war 
and  revolution,  which  Dickinson  hated,  and  the  fact  that 
he  succeeded  in  getting  them  through  the  Congress  in  the 
face  of  the  more  determined  representatives  of  New  Eng- 
land and  the  South,  shows  the  strength  of  his  influence. 
John  Adams  called  him  "  a  piddling  genius,"  which,  however 
doubtful  may  be  the  meaning,  was  not  intended  to  be 
complimentary.  On  the  other  hand  his  old  opponent  Gal- 
loway fast  developing  into  a  positive  loyalist  opposed  him 
bitterly. 

He  was  holding  a  middle  groimd  and  as  is  usually  the 
case  retained  it  with  difficulty.  A  leader  in  demanding 
redress,  yet  compromising  by  nature,  he  stood  out  against 
radical  measures  on  the  one  side  and  submission  on  the 
other. 


232     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANLA 

In  this  he  probably  fairly  represented  his  Quaker  con- 
nection. The  Friends  had  been  vigorously  opposed  to  any 
infringements  on  popular  rights  whether  by  Proprietors  or 
Crown.  Up  to  1755  this  had  been  done  through  their  own 
membership,  afterwards  through  representatives  chosen  by 
them.  They  had  gained  one  point  after  another  by  legal 
means.  In  England  where  they  had  no  political  power, 
when  laws  went  against  them  they  protested  and  suffered. 
The  method  had  been  effective  and  Quaker  scruples  were 
often  crystallized  into  legislation. 

They  yielded  exact  obedience  to  all  edicts,  and  had  a 
testimony  against  plots  and  revolutions,  but  they  were  in- 
flexible in  disobedience  to  laws  which  touched  their  con- 
sciences. They  granted  freedom  of  conscience  to  all  others 
and  demanded  it  for  themselves.  Now  they  were  approach- 
ing a  time  when  their  love  of  liberty  and  their  hatred  of 
revolution  and  war  were  to  conflict.  Could  they  gain  their 
points  by  appeal  to  the  king,  to  the  English  people,  to  con- 
stitutional rights,  all  would  be  well  and  in  this  movement 
John  Dickinson  was  their  hope. 

His  papers  had  made  him  influential  and  distinguished 
above  any  man  in  America  and  it  did  not  seem  impossible 
that  he  could  carry  the  country.  He  was  appealing  for 
undoubted  rights  and  privileges,  needing  not  the  support  of 
illegal  or  revolutionary  proceedings,  rights  which  had  the 
same  foundation  as  trial  by  jury.  The  true  English  mode 
of  resistance  was  by  petition  and  remonstrance  which  gen- 
erally proved  effective  in  time.  There  were  of  course  pos- 
sibilities of  unreason  or  obstinacy  on  either  side  in  which 
case  resistance  by  force  must  follow,  but  he  warned  the 
ministry  that  if  this  came  to  pass  the  responsibility  would 
be  with  them.  On  the  other  hand  he  tried  to  moderate  the 
extreme  measures  which  the  New  England  delegates  were 
preaching,  urged  on  by  the  popular  feeling  at  home.    A 


JOHN  DICKINSON  233 

normal  vigorous  agitation,  an  appeal  to  English  justice  and 
English  constitutional  methods  of  resistance  rather  than 
premature  and  violent  action  was  the  content  of  his  preach- 
ing, but  neither  Old  nor  New  England  was  in  a  condition 
to  respond.  Franklin  in  England  was  writing  that  the  tea 
sunk  in  Boston  harbor  should  be  paid  for  and  seemed  to 
be  his  ally. 

But  appeals  failed  and  the  radicals  forced  independence, 
revolution  and  war,  and  here  for  a  time  ended  the  popularity 
and  influence  of  John  Dickinson.  He  was  too  much  of  a 
patriot  to  join  Galloway  and  the  loyalists;  too  cautious  to 
sign  a  measure  which  he  considered  premature  and  which 
would  lead  to  consequences  which  might  be  fatal;  too  little 
of  a  Friend  to  oppose  war  for  its  own  sake.  His  argument 
was  that  without  foreign  aid  a  rebellion  would  not  be  suc- 
cessful and  foreign  aid  should  first  be  secured.  In  the  first 
point  he  was  probably  right,  and  in  the  second  the  colonists 
took  their  chances.  The  French  came  in  to  save  the  sit- 
uation. 

His  speech  on  this  occasion  was  an  eloquent  plea  for 
moderation.  John  Adams  had  invoked  the  "  God  of  Elo- 
quence." Dickinson  replied,  "The  gentleman  who  spoke 
last  began  by  invoking  a  heathen  God.  I  shall  introduce 
what  I  have  to  say  by  humbly  invoking  the  God  of  heaven 
and  earth  to  inspire  me  with  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
truth  and  if  what  I  am  about  to  say  in  opposition  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  should  be  injurious  in  any 
degree  to  my  country  I  pray  God  to  overrule  my  arguments 
and  to  direct  us  to  such  a  decision  upon  this  weighty  ques- 
tion as  shall  be  most  for  the  interest  and  happiness  of  the 
people  committed  to  our  care.  ...  I  know  too  that  I 
have  acquired  a  character  and  some  popularity  with  them, 
both  of  which  I  shall  risk  by  opposing  this  favorite  measure. 
But  I  had  rather  risk  both  than  speak  or  vote  contrary  to 
the  dictates  of  my  judgment  and  conscience." 


234     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Though  defeated  in  his  method  he  did  not  sulk  but  joined 
the  Revolutionary  Army  first  as  an  ofl&cer,  then,  when 
driven  out  of  his  place  by  political  enemies  as  a  common 
soldier.  He  had  lost  his  standing  with  the  people  and  after 
his  career  in  the  field  retired  to  private  life  on  his  Delaware 
plantation. 

A  few  years  later  he  could  not  resist  the  call  to  Congress 
from  Delaware  and,  after  a  brief  service  there,  to  the  Gov- 
ernorship. By  the  end  of  the  war  there  came  a  conserva- 
tive reaction  and  Pennsylvania  turned  to  Dickinson.  In 
1782  he  was  elected  a  member  and  soon  after  the  President 
of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council,  practically  the  Governor 
of  the  state.  He  held  this  place  for  three  years  and  was 
succeeded  by  Dr.  Franklin.^ 

In  1787  when  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  met  in  Philadelphia  John  Dick- 
inson was  a  member  from  Delaware.  He  had  himself 
drafted  the  Articles  of  Confederation  under  which  the  states 
worked  since  1776,  but  no  one  saw  more  clearly  than  he, 
their  inadequacy  to  meet  the  conditions  of  a  permanent 
union.  His  intimate  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  free 
institutions  of  England  and  other  states  made  his  services 

1  A  glimpse,  not  very  flattering;,  is  given  of  Dickinson  in  1783 
by  a  German  traveller  .Johann  David  Schoeff.  He  says,  "I  de- 
sired to  make  him  my  duty,  and  in  order  to  be  received  by  him 
I  had  recourse  to  a  physician  of  my  acquaintance,  who  excused 
himself  on  the  ground  that  he  had  been  against  the  Governor  at 
the  last  election."  Then  he  tried  an  American  Mayor  who  also 
made  some  trivial  excuse.  Then  "I  betook  myself  to  a  Quaker 
confidently  believing  I  had  come  to  the  right  man  since  Dickinson 
himself  is  of  the  Society  of  Friends ;  but  my  Quaker  assured  me 
he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Governor."  Another  doctor  also 
declined.  "I  regretted  I  could  not  meet  with  one  whose  vainglory 
not  satisfied  with  the  government  of  so  considerable  a  province  as 
Pennsylvania  was  at  the  same  time  putting  in  for  another  that  of 
the  state  of  Delaware.     But  this  may  have  been  from  lofty  patriot- 


JOHN  DICKINSON  235 

of  great  value.  He  was  the  author  of  the  scheme  by  which 
the  upper  house  of  the  federal  legislature  was  to  be  com- 
posed of  two  from  each  state  thus  recognizing  the  rights  of 
the  smaller  states.  As  delegate  from  Delaware  he  felt  it 
to  be  a  part  of  his  duty  to  see  that  the  doctrine  of  the  rights 
of  states  as  enunciated  in  the  constitution  should  not  permit 
the  overwhelming  influence  of  the  more  populous  ones. 

When  the  form  of  the  Constitution  was  finally  agreed 
upon  he  was  urgent  for  its  adoption  by  the  people  and  wrote 
over  the  signature  of  Fabius  a  series  of  articles  in  explana- 
tion and  support  of  it.  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  were 
the  two  states  first  to  adopt  it. 

In  the  old  age  of  John  Dickinson  his  political  sympathies 
took  an  unexpected  turn.  The  well  known  caution  and 
conservatism  of  his  younger  years  might  have  been  ex- 
pected to  deepen  with  age.  Instead  he  allied  himself  with 
the  Republican  Party  of  Jefferson  with  whom  he  carried  on 
a  most  sympathetic  correspondence.  He  greatly  rejoiced 
in  the  early  days  of  the  French  Revolution,  though  depre- 
cating the  cruelties  and  atheism  into  which  it  developed. 
He  was  often  consulted  and  wrote  many  letters  of  advice 
as  to  public  matters  of  consequence.  Several  suggestions 
were  made  to  him  to  accept  a  United  States  Senatorship 
from  Delaware  and  other  offices,  but  nothing  could  tempt 
him  from  the  life  of  quiet  unofficial  interest  in  public  affairs. 
On  February,  1808,  he  died  in  his  77th  year  and  was  buried 
in  the  graveyard  attached  to  Friends  Meeting  House  in 
Wilmington,  Delaware. 

Such  is  a  brief  epitome  of  his  public  life.  However  we 
may  differ  as  to  the  wisdom  of  his  positions,  we  can  readily 
recognize  the  consistent  patriotism,  the  intelligent  and  stu- 
dious advocacy  of  important  movements,  the  lack  of  asper- 
ity in  his  judgment  of  opponents,  the  intellectual  grace  and 
culture  of  the  man,  and  his  permanent  influence  upon  the 
nation  he  helped  to  create. 


236     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

But  what  of  John  Dickinson  the  Quaker?  Prior  to  his 
marriage  at  the  age  of  38  there  is  little  in  his  life,  except 
perhaps  a  certain  quietness  of  manner  and  conciliatory 
spirit,  to  suggest  his  membership  with  Friends.  The  proba- 
bilities are  that  he  was  not  a  member,  though  why  there 
are  not  facts  known  to  show.  Apparently  his  parents  were 
Friends  and  he  would  have  a  birthright  membership.  Pos- 
sibly one  of  these  lost  the  right  before  he  was  born  in  which 
case  his  name  would  not  be  recorded  on  the  books.  He 
did  not  use  the  Friendly  "  thou  "  and  "  thee  "  or  the  numer- 
ical names  of  the  months  even  in  writing  to  his  family. 
His  education  was  away  from  Friends  and  his  associates 
after  he  came  to  live  in  Philadelphia  were  many  of  them 
of  other  denominations. 

He  would  however  often  find  a  congenial  household  at 
Fair  Hill.  The  Norris  family  would  have  large  intellectual 
as  well  as  political  attractions  for  the  young  student.  Isaac 
Norris  and  he  were  closely  associated  in  their  opposition  to 
the  change  of  masters  from  the  Proprietors  to  the  Crown. 
The  ample  library  would  be  a  source  of  profit  and  pleasure 
and  the  entrance  was  easy  for  him  with  his  graceful  man- 
ners, ample  means  and  fine  intelligence  to  whatever  was 
best  in  the  society  of  the  colonial  capital. 

Isaac  Norris  died  in  1769  and  his  daughter  Sarah  a  few 
weeks  later.  Only  Mary  Norris  was  left  of  the  family. 
She  became  the  wife  of  John  Dickinson  in  1770  and  as  the 
heirs  of  Fair  Hill  they  lived  there  "  in  great  elegance." 
John  Adams  speaks  of  Dickinson's  calling  on  him  "  in  his 
carriage  and  four  beautiful  horses,"  and  that  "  his  residence 
was  very  fine  with  its  beautiful  prospect  of  the  city,  the 
river,  the  country,  fine  gardens  and  a  very  grand  library." 

Mary  Norris  was  an  interested  Friend  but  could  not 
marry  a  non-member  by  Friendly  methods.  It  was  then  a 
serious  matter  to  marry  "  out  of  the  Society  "  and  the 
result  usually  was  "  disownment." 


JOHN  DICKINSON  237 

The  account  which  follows  therefore  indicates  that  her 
husband  was  not  a  Friend.  "  Thou  will  be  greatly  sur- 
prised," her  uncle  William  Logan  writes  "  to  hear  that  our 
niece  Polly  Norris  was  married  last  night  to  John  Dickin- 
son. .  .  .  She  was  married  at  the  Widow  Norris's  by 
George  Bryan  (a  Magistrate).  ...  I  am  greatly  con- 
cerned for  the  example  Polly  has  set  by  this  her  outgoing  in 
marriage.  I  fear  she  has  slipped  from  the  top  of  the  hill 
of  reputation  she  had  gained  in  the  Society  and  among  her 
friends,  and  that  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  she  gains  it 
again  if  ever.     I  wish  she  may  not  repent  it." 

But  Polly  probably  never  repented  it.  She  retained  her 
memnership,  and  largely  through  her  her  husband  and  chil- 
dren were  influenced  in  the  same  direction. 

Had  John  Dickinson  been  a  Friend  in  early  life  his 
membership  would  not  have  survived  his  military  experi- 
ence during  the  war.  Some  writers  have  said  that  he  was 
too  important  a  man  for  the  Quakers  to  lose,  but  such 
little  knew  the  prompt,  unbending,  impartial  action  which 
followed  every  departure  however  slight  from  the  straight 
line  of  peace,  on  either  side  of  the  controversy. 

At  the  end  of  the  war  however  there  are  many  evidences 
of  his  close  approach  to  Friends,  though  he  never  joined  in 
membership.  His  letters  used  the  Friendly  language  no 
matter  whom  he  addressed.  He  became  a  regular  attender 
of  Friends  Meeting  and  interested  himself  in  their  affairs. 
He  joined  with  them  in  the  abolition  movement,  freed  all 
his  own  slaves  and  drew  up  an  emancipation  bill  for  Dela- 
ware, which  however  was  not  adopted.  He  wrote  to  his 
cousin  James  Pemberton  letters  of  concern  that  the  Friends 
of  the  day  read  no  literature  but  Quaker  literature,  and 
tried  to  encourage  a  wider  literary  interest.  He  wrote  to 
them  eloquently  against  the  idea  which  was  probably  rather 
widely  spread  among  them  that  education  was  in  itself  dan- 


238     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

gerous.  "So  assured  am  I  that  learning  and  religion  will 
be  found  to  agree  together  that  I  think  it  the  indispensable 
duty  of  those  who  revere  religion  to  cultivate  learning  in 
order  to  counteract  the  mischiefs  flowing  from  its  perver- 
sions and  apply  it  to  its  proper  use." 

To  further  encourage  the  idea  he  urged  the  Friends  to 
establish  a  school  and  made  to  it  liberal  contributions  in 
money  and  real  estate.  This  came  to  an  issue  in  1799  and 
Westtown  Boarding  School  still  in  honored  existence  was 
the  fruit  of  their  joint  efforts. 

He  and  his  wife  gave  to  Wilmington  Monthly  Meeting  of 
Friends  a  sum  for  the  education  of  children  of  those  not 
in  affluent  circumstances.  Other  benevolent  projects  were 
committed  to  other  organizations  of  Friends. 

His  identification  with  Friends  was  so  close  that  he  was 
usually  considered  a  member.  Thus  we  have  this  testimony 
from  the  son  of  Chief  Justice  Read:  — 

"I  have  a  vivid  impression  of  the  man,  tall  and  spare, 
his  hair  white  as  snow,  his  face  uniting  with  the  severe  sim- 
plicity of  his  sect  a  neatness  and  elegance  peculiarly  in 
keeping  with  it;  his  manners  a  beautiful  emanation  of  the 
great  Christian  principle  of  love,  with  that  gentleness  and 
affectionateness  which,  whatever  may  be  the  cause,  the 
Friends,  or  at  least  individuals  among  them,  exhibit  more 
than  others,  combining  the  politeness  of  a  man  of  the  world 
familiar  with  society  in  its  most  polished  forms  with  con- 
ventional canons  of  behavior.  Truly  he  lives  in  my  mem- 
ory as  the  realization  of  my  beau-ideal  of  a  gentleman." 

But  during  all  these  years  he  was  not  a  member  with 
Friends.  This  was  a  matter  of  doubt  till  the  recent  dis- 
covery of  two  letters,  one  in  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  one  in  the  Friends  Library  in  Devonshire 
House  in  London,  seems  to  set  the  matter  at  rest. 

A  correspondent  writing  without  date  but  probably  about 
1787   is  urging  him  to  join  Friends.     She   says:    "Thou 


I 


JOHN  DICKINSON  239 

mayst  be  a  suitable  laborer  in  the  work  if  disposed  to.  It 
is  a  worthy  act  not  only  to  do  good  ourselves  but  to  induce 
others  thereto.  If  thou  wast  become  a  member  of  Society 
thou  mightest  with  just  assistance  of  others  also  yoked  in 
mind  to  the  service  become  as  Dr.  Fothergill,  a  vigilant 
advancer  of  it  into  execution.  But  that  must  depend  on 
thy  feelings.  Perhaps  human  wisdom  is  not  yet  sufficiently 
reduced  in  subjection  to  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ, 
to  make  thee  as  yet  willing  to  stoop  to  the  foolishness  of 
the  cross  sometimes  appearing  in  the  Quaker.  I  do  not 
mean  an  irrational  or  unchristian  foolishness  but  what 
appeareth  foolishness  to  Sophistry.  I  suggest  these  things 
respecting  thyself.  I  do  not  say  they  are  so.  Forgive  my 
great  freedom  and  burn  this  if  I  do  not  conclude  to  save 
thee  the  trouble.  If  it  goes  let  the  veil  of  charity  cover  its 
defects.  And  may  thou  persevere  this  time  in  that  which 
shall  induce  us  to  address  thee  in  the  character  of  —  John 
Dickinson  the  worthy  —  not  J.  D.  Esq.,  or  the  Great. 
Thou  will  say  I  suppose  I  am  a  strange  girl  to  write  as  I  do. 
Farewell  however. 

"  Thy  friend, 

"  A.  Emlen,  Jr." 

Again  James  Bringhurst  in  1799  writes  to  a  correspondent 
a  letter  which  gives  certain  interesting  facts  concerning  his 
later  life. 

"  A  great  change  has  taken  place  in  John  Dickinson 
although  not  yet  in  Membership  with  F''^^,  it  plainly  shews 
what  the  powerful  operation  of  Divine  Grace  has  done  for 
him,  who  was  once  in  almost  the  highest  applause  &  popu- 
larity of  Mankind  as  to  worldly  things,  having  been  a  great 
Lawyer,  a  Politician,  a  Governor  of  Pensilvania,  &  any 
station  he  seemed  to  chuse  —  having  been  the  Author  of 
what's  called  the  Farmer's  letters  some  years  past,  &  now 
I  believe  him  to  be  the  improving  Christian.     He  has  so  far 


240     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

taken  up  the  cross  as  to  use  the  plain  language  to  all,  &  is  a 
diligent  attender  of  our  religious  meetings.  I  had  been  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  him  &  therefore  took  the  liberty  to 
lay  before  him  in  a  letter  I  wrote  a  few  weeks  past,  the  use 
&  benefit  his  influence  might  probably  have  if  he  could  feel 
it  right  to  exert  it  with  G.  Washington,  &  some  others  in 
high  stations  on  behalf  of  the  poor  Black  people  detained 
in  Bondage.  —  of  his  own  Negroes  he  set  a  number  free,  in 
which  I  was  informed  he  gave  up  to  the  amount  of  between 
eight  &  ten  thousand  pounds.  Respecting  that  &  some 
other  matters  he  gave  me  some  account  last  spring  about  a 
week  before  I  left  home  to  come  here.  —  I  went  to  Will- 
mington  to  see  a  Son  of  mine,  who  is  settled  there,  when 
J.  Dickinson  was  very  pressing  with  me  to  spend  some  time 
with  him  at  his  house,  which  is  large  &  comodious  &  pleas- 
ently  situated  in  that  Town,  where  he  lives  as  a  private 
Gentleman.  He  possesses  vast  property  &  therefore  it  is 
in  his  power  to  do  much  good  with  it  wherein  I  believe  he 
is  good  to  the  poor.  I  staid  longer  than  I  had  intended  on 
purpose  from  his  solicitation  &  spent  part  of  two  days  with 
him,  when  he  was  very  free  &  open  in  conversation,  one  part 
of  which  I  may  have  room  to  mention  —  in  speaking  of  the 
difference  between  his  former  &  present  manner  of  Life,  he 
told  me  his  daughter  had  been  his  instructor;  he  has  two 
children  who  are  daughters  lately  grown  up,  no  Son.  He 
said,  when  he  lived  in  Philadelphia,  he  wished  his  eldest  to 
learn  dancing  &  proposed  it  to  her,  offering  to  have  a  master 
come  to  teach  her,  —  at  which  she  made  some  hesitation. 
He  then  desired  her  to  go  into  her  chamber  &  set  an  hour 
or  two  alone  to  consider  of  it  &  then  give  him  an  answer. 
She  went  as  he  bid  her  &  when  she  returned  to  him  again, 
her  answer  was,  '  if  Father  pleases  I  had  much  rather  be  a 
Friend  '  which  altho'  somewhat  mortifying  to  him  at  that 
time  he  gave  up  to.  That  with  some  other  parts  of  her 
conduct  put  him  upon  closer  thinking  of  the  cause.  She 
is  a  fine  young  woman  of  superior  understanding,  just  grow- 
ing up  into  the  prime  of  life  with  every  opportunity  of 
indulgence  that's  apt  to  be  pleasing  to  young  minds.  Thus 
to  deny  herself  of  those  things,  so  powerfully  struck  his 
mind  as  gradually  with  other  feelings  he  experienced  to 
effect  a  change  in  him  who  was  in  great  exaltation  as  to 


JOHN  DICKINSON  241 

worldly  Eminence. —  I  thought  this  short  ace'  might  be 
agreeable  to  you  both  to  see,  far  short  it  is,  to  what  I  could 
have  wrote  respecting  the  conversation  we  had,  but  I 
thought  this  enough  to  insert  in  this  letter.  I  wish  this  part 
of  it  not  to  be  much  seen  by  others,  as  I  should  not  like 
any  of  it  as  wrote  by  me,  should  come  to  his  knowledge  — 
that  respecting  his  negroes  he  told  me  if  some  who  held  such 
knew  of,  perhaps  it  might  be  an  encouragement  to  them  to 
set  theirs  free,  tho'  I  dont  wish  that  to  be  mention'd  either 
from  me,  —  he  said  he  became  uneasy  in  his  mind  about  his, 
&  therefore  thought  to  accommodate  the  matter  to  himself 
&  them  also,  &  therefore  order'd  a  number  of  huts  to  be 
built  for  their  better  living  on  the  Plantations,  &  several 
other  ways  endeavor'd  to  render  a  state  of  slavery  easy  to 
them,  but  after  all  this  he  found  his  mind  disturbed  on  their 
ace',  &  at  last  determin'd  to  set  them  at  liberty,  &  wrote 
a  manumission  for  the  whole  of  them,  immediately  after 
which  he  told  me  he  had  a  peaceful  easy  mind,  &  everything 
seemed  to  prosper  in  his  hands,  &  to  crown  all,  his  Income 
was  abundantly  increased  contrary  to  his  expectation." 
Dated  Tiverton  Rhode  Hand  8'*^  of  lO''^  mo  1799. 

He  never  accepted  the  historic  position  of  Friends  on 
the  subject  of  the  unchristian  character  of  the  methods  of 
warfare.  Writing  to  his  cousin,  George  Logan,  a  grandson 
of  James  Logan,  then  United  States  Senator  from  Penn- 
sylvania, he  says  in  1804  "  As  standing  armies  are  justly 
abhorred  among  us  our  liberty  must  depend  upon  our  being 
an  armed  nation;  and  considering  the  honor  of  those  with 
whom  we  have  to  contend,  we  must  be  a  populous  nation." 

Warner  Mifl9in  who  was  a  fellow  member  of  the  Conven- 
tion which  framed  a  Constitution  for  Delaware  in  1782,  a 
Friend  in  good  standing,  thus  writes  of  Dickinson's  efforts 
to  defeat  the  causes  which  Friends  had  much  at  heart.  "  I 
believe  I  attended  them  (the  sittings  of  the  Convention) 
every  day  except  one  meeting-day  and  am  very  strongly 
suspicious  that  John  Dickinson  knew  that  was  our  meeting- 
day,  as  he  then  moved  that  the  blacks  should  be  prevented 


242     POLITICAL  LEADERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

by  the  Constitution  from  purchasing  real  property  &c.  His 
conduct  respecting  the  blacks  and  the  conscientiously  scru- 
pulous against  arms,  induced  one  to  believe  that  he  was  as 
great  an  enemy  to  the  cause  of  righteousness  as  was  in  that 
body.  ...  I  told  him  that  those  who  came  nearest  the 
truth  and  were  not  in  it  were  its  greatest  enemies." 

Thus  he  lived  through  his  life  on  the  fringe  of  the  Society, 
identified  with  them  in  popular  estimation  but  never  fully 
trusted  by  their  standard  members. 

Whether  Quaker  or  not  he  was  a  devout  and  pious  Chris- 
tian. His  private  letters  breathe  a  spirit  of  fervent  reli- 
gious life,  and  his  kindly  but  unostentatious  donations  all 
through  his  life  betray  the  sense  of  responsibility  for  the 
proper  use  of  his  large  wealth.  His  wife  had  inherited 
Fair  Hill  and  when  in  Philadelphia  they  spent  their  life 
there  in  a  generous  hospitality.  But  knowing  that  Isaac 
Norris  had  desired  that  the  property  should  descend  to  the 
male  members  of  the  Norris  family,  he  transferred  without 
compensation  all  rights  in  the  very  valuable  estate  to  the 
sons  of  Charles  Norris. 

The  residence  at  Fair  Hill  was  burned  by  the  British 
during  their  occupancy  of  the  city  in  1777,  part  of  the 
Library  being  saved. 

The  books  left,  some  1500  volumes,  were  given  in  1783 
to  Dickinson  College  then  just  established  by  the  Presby- 
terians. He  also  donated  two  tracts  of  valuable  land 
altogether  500  acres  to  the  new  institution.  It  was  char- 
tered "Dickinson  College  in  memory  of  the  great  and  im- 
portant services  rendered  to  his  country  by  his  Excellency, 
John  Dickinson,  Esquire,  President  of  the  Supreme  Execu- 
tive Council  and  in  commemoration  of  his  very  liberal 
donation  to  the  institution."  He  also  subscribed  to  the 
funds  of  Princeton  College. 

Education,  charity,  religion,  these  were  the  purposes  to 


JOHN  DICKINSON  243 

which  his  peaceful  later  years  were  devoted.  Almost  his 
last  words  were  "  I  wish  happiness  to  all  mankind  and  the 
blessings  of  peace  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  these 
are  the  constant  subjects  of  my  prayers." 


INDEX 


Asceticism,  13 
Ashbridge,  George,  145 
Assembly,  144 

Bancroft,  George,  54 
Barclay,  Robert,  63,  67 
Benezet,  Anthony,  10 
Biddle,  John,  44 
Biddle,  William,  43 
Biles,  William,  96,  123 
Blackwell,  Governor,  21,  73 
Brissot  de  Warviile,  210 

Carpenter,   Samuel,   33,    52,   71, 

108,  122,  139,  184,  201 
Chronicle  of  ben  Saddi,  194 
Conscience,  Quaker,  15,  51 


77, 


Davies,  Richard,  55 
Dickinson,  James,  67 
Dickinson,  John 

ancestry,  224 

education,  225 

studies  law,  225 

enters  public  life,  226 

contest  Franklin  and  Galloway,  226 

Farmer's  Letters,  229 

influence  in  Philadelphia,  230 

Continental  Congress,  232 

represents  Friends,  232 

moderation,  232 

joins  army,  234 

Governor  of  Delaware  and    Penn- 
sylvania, 234 

constitutional  convention,  234 

sympathizes  mth  Republicans,  235 

death,  235 

as  a  Friend,  236,  238 

marriage,  236 

letters    of    A.    Emlen    and    James 
Bringhurst,  239 

donations,  242 
Dixon,  Hepworth,  20 


Eckley,  John.  73,  77 
Evans,  Governor,  21,  97,  121 

Fisher,  Daniel,  37 

Fletcher,  Governor,  78.  88,  89 

Ford,  Patrick,  22.  26,  97 

Fox,  George,  63 

Franklin,   Benjamin.    150,    192,    196, 
198,  207,  215,  226 

Freame,  Margaret  Pcnn,  42 

Friends,  society  of 

abstain  from  politics,  3 
general  meeting,  31 
war  problems,  7,  8,  50,  147 
control  Assembly,  145 
leave  Assembly,  193, 195,217 

GaUoway,  Joseph,  226,  228 
Goodson,  John,  41 

Gookin,  Governor,  21, 93, 97, 129,  136 
Gordon,  Governor,  106,  144 
Growdon,  Joseph,  108 

Hamilton,  Andrew,  42,  160,  190 
Hill,  Richard.  124,  128,  133,  139,  154, 

184 
Hodgkin,  Thomas,  18 
Holme,  Thomas,  59 
Hoskins,  Jane,  109 

Indian   policy,  47,  48,  49,   140,   174, 
188,  191,  205 

Jenings,  Samuel,  66 
John  ap  John.  55 
Jones,  Griffith,  26 

Keith,  George,  62,  68 

Keith,  Sir  William,  46,  103,  142,  157 

Kinsey,  John 

ancestry,  156 

hat  in  court,  157 


245 


246 


INDEX 


Kinsey,  John  —  continited 
came  to  Philadelphia,  159 
meeting  work,  159 
state  offices,  160 
contest    with    Governor     Thomas, 

162-169 
chief  justice,  171 
Maryland  boundary  line,  172 
bills  of  credit,  172 
differs  with  governor,  173 
treaties  with  Indians,  174 
Albany  treaty,  176 
death,  176 
notices,  177 

end  of  Quaker  control,  178 
meeting  notice,  180 

Lloyd,  Charles,  57 
Lloyd,  David 

opposed  to  Peim,  26 

early  Ufe,  84 

offices  in  state,  85 

differs  with  Pastorius,  86 

politician,  88 

opposes  Logan,  89,  98,  100 

opposes  Penn,  90 

war  grants,  91 

identity   of   Friends   with   govern- 
ment, 91 

Lloyd  defeated,  1710,  92,  102,  132 ; 
1705,  96 

adjournment  of  House,  92 

address  to  Penn,  1704,  94,  122 

courts  to  be  established,  99 

differs  with  Gookin,  99,  101 

moves  to  Chester,  102 

sides  with  Sir  W.  Keith,  104 

death,  106 

as  a  lawyer,  106 

as  a  politician,  107 

as  a  Friend,  108 

Jane  Fenn,  110 

services  to  state.  111 

literary  work,  113 

country  people  for  Lloyd,  131 
Lloyd,  Grace,  109 
Lloyd,  Thomas 

qualities  of,  22 

signs  Penn's  certificate,  33 

comes  to  Pennsylvania,  60 

opposes  George  Keith,  61 


Pastorius  and  Lloyd,  70 

deputy  governor,  73 

differs    with    Governor    Black  well, 
74,77 

death,  78 

character,  79 

memorial  of  Welsh  Friends,  80 

letter  to  Welsh  Friends,  82 
Logan,  Dr.  George,  153,  241 
Logan,  James 

comes  to  Pennsylvania,  89,  115 

attitude  to  war,  91,  115,  148 

fidelity  to  Penn,  97 

descent,  114 

offices  held,  115 

dispute  with  Daniel  Cooper,  116 

with  Thomas  Story,  117 

relation  to  Friends,  118 

quit-rents  and  collections,  119 

Indian  question,  120,  140,  150 

politics,  121 

bitterness  with  Lloyd,  122 

Evans  hoax,  123 

powder  money,  124 

impeached,  125 

bad  assemblies,  126 

Lewes  plundered,  127 

trustee  under  Penn's  mortgage,   128 

goes  to  England,  129 

election  of  1710,  132 

returns,  133 

salary,  135 

marriage,  138 

better  times,  139 

differs  with  Governor  Keith,  143 

made  chief  justice,  146 

president  of  council,  146 

aids  lotteries,  149 

Stenton,  149 

influence,  150 

intellectual  interests,  151 

library,  152 

death,  153 

descendants,  153 
Logan,  William,  153 
Lotteries,  44 
Lower,  Thomas,  26 

Makin,  Thomas,  71 
Markham,  William,  77,  89,  121 
Mather,  Cotton,  64 


INDEX 


247 


Mead,  William,  26 
Mifflin.  Warner,  242 

Negro  meetings,  33 
Norris,  Deborah,  154 
Norris,  Isaac,  Sr. 

judgment  of  Penn,  25 

of  Thomas  Storj',  117 

caie  of  young  Penn,  122 

poor  prospects  of  Pa.,  127 

arranges  Penn's  debts,  128,  184 

early  life,  181 

builds  Fairhill,  182 

marries  Mary  Lloyd,  183 

politics,  185 
Norris,  Isaac,  2nd 

birth,  186 

City  Council,  186 

merchant,  187 

assists  Kinsey,  187 

goes  to  Albany,  189 

speaker,  189 

state  house  built,  190 

liberty  bell,  190 

Albanj^  treaty,  191 

declines  to  leave  Assembly,  194 

the     Chronicle    of     Nathan      ben 
Saddi,  194 

appointed  agent  in  England,  196 

contest  with  proprietors,  197 

death,  198 

relation  to  meeting,  198 

married  life,  199 

scholarship,  199 

Oaths,  45,  103,  137 
Owen,  Griffith,  33 

Palatines,  144 

Pastorius,  F.  D.,  67,  69,  70,  72,  86 
Pemberton,  Israel,  Sr.,  201 
Pemberton,  Israel,  Jr. 

leader  of  Quakers,  202 

trouble  with  Governor  Thomas,  202 

Indian  interests,  205 

King  Wampum,  206 

Paxton  boys,  207 

opposes  Thomas  Penn,  208 

tea  ship,  209 

British  sympathizers,  210 

Friends  in  revolution,  210 


contest  with  John  Adams,  212 

banished  to  Virginia,  213 

death,  213 
Pemberton,  James 

education,  214 

offices  in  church,  214 

member  of  Assembly,  216 

character  of  Assembly,  216 

break-up  of  Quaker  majority,  217 

Pennsylvania  Hospital,  218 

Acadians,  219 

banished  to  Virginia,  219 

Westtown  School,  220    ' 

anti-slavery  work,  222 

death,  223 
Pemberton,  Phineas,  71,  200 
Penal  code,  46,  103 
Penn,  Hannah  C,  103,  105,  135 
Penn,  John,  147 
Penn,  Thomas,  147,  196 
Penn,  William 

religious  liberty,  10,  36,  93 

weak  qualities,  23 

strong  qualities,  24,  27 

Isaac  Norris'  judgment,  25 

personality,  29,  30,  33 

certificates  of  English  Friends,  32 

constitutions,  34,  35 

democracy,  39 

amusements,  43 

oaths,  45,  103 

capital  punishment,  46 

Indian  policy,  47,  48,  49 

war,  50,  52 

diet  of  nations,  51 

travels  in  Germany,  63 

Penn  and  Pastorius,  70 

Penn  and  Blackwell,  77 

financial  troubles,  94,  97 

engages  Logan,  115 

land  ownership,  120 

opposition  to  Penn,  130 

Penn's  letter  to  Friends,  133 

sale  to  cTovrn,  135 

paralyzed,  135 
Penn,  William,  Jr.,  121 
Personality,  9 
Punishment,  capital,  46,  138 

Quaker  reforms,  7 
Quit-rents,  119 


\ 


248 


INDEX 


Riot  of  1742,  169,  187 
Roberts,  Hugh,  41.  69 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  160 

Second  coining,  11 
Smith,  John,  154,  177 
Standards  of  conduct,  1 
Stockdale,  WilUam,  65 
Story,  Thomas,  33 


Thomas,  Governor,  147,  161 
Thompson,  Charles,  42,  231 

War  troubles,  101,  162,  170,  192 
Weiser,  Conrad,  173,  175 
Welsh  Friends,  55,  80 
Welsh  Tract,  59,  74-76 
Whitehead,  George,  26 
WiUiams,  Roger,  10,  36 


Printed  in  the  United  States  ot  America. 


'TpHE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a 
few  of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects 


The  Pilgrims  and  Their  History 

By  ROLAND   G.  USHER,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  History,  Washington  University,  St.  Louis.     Author  of 

"Pan-Germanism,"    "The    Reconstruction    of    the    English 

Church,"  "The  Story  of  the  Pilgrims  for  Children,"  Etc. 

Illustrated,  12°,  $2.00 

The  approaching  tercentenary  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims 
makes  peculiarly  timely  Professor  Usher's  new  and  critical 
study  of  The  Pilgrims  and  Their  History.  While  best  known 
to  the  general  reader  as  the  author  of  Pan-Germanism,  he  has 
been  known  to  scholars  as  the  author  of  authoritative  mono- 
graphs on  Stuart  History,  and  particularly  the  history  of  the 
Puritans  in  England.  Ilis  account  of  the  Pilgrims  is,  strange 
to  say,  literally  the  first  attempt  since  the  era  of  modern  critical 
scholarship  to  treat  the  whole  of  Pilgrim  History  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  general  reader  in  a  single  volume  of  moderate 
compass.  He  has  summarized,  verified,  and  qualified  the  more 
detailed  researches  of  the  last  generation  of  scholars,  and  has 
drawn  together  their  results  in  a  narrative  which  is  history 
without  being  dull,  and  is  detailed  without  being  pedantic.  He 
has  put  into  three  hundred  pages  all  the  really  pertinent  in- 
formation about  the  Pilgrims  and  their  history. 

"This  is  a  fresh,  highly  interesting  and  exceedingly  valuable 
study  of  the  Pilgrims,  of  their  influence  on  the  character  of 
America,  and  of  the  historical  basis  for  certain  conceptions  that 
have  been  accepted  perhaps  too  readily.  .  .  .  With  remarkable 
conciseness  and  the  utmost  clarity  Professor  Usher  deals  with 
the  questions  of  significance  in  connection  with  the  political, 
economic,  and  religious  aspects  of  the  colony  and  the  tendencies 
that  finally  brought  Plymouth  and  the  Bay  colony  together  into 
one  commonwealth.  Few  writers  have  approached  this  subject 
with  such  obvious  freedom  from  prejudice."  —  The  Continent. 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

TubliBhers  64-66  Fifth  Avenae  New  York 


"AN  ACCURATE  GENERAL  IMPRESSION*' 


The  Story  of  the  Pilgrims  for  Children 

By  ROLAND   G.   USHER 

Illustrated,  $1.25 

The  majority  of  books  for  children  on  early  American 
history  either  tell  the  traditional  story  of  the  Pilgrims,  long 
ago  rejected  by  all  critical  students,  or  create  imaginary 
incidents  and  characters  which  subordinate  the  great  Pil- 
grims and  thrust  them  into  the  background  of  the  child's 
mind.   . 

There  has  long  been  a  demand  for  a  story  of  the  Pilgrims 
for  children  which  should  make  Bradford,  Brewster,  Wins- 
low,  and  Standish  themselves  the  heroes,  which  should  be 
accurate  in  fact,  which  should  not  resort  to  imaginary 
characters  and  incidents  in  an  attempt  to  vivify  the  narra- 
tive. It  should  be  dramatic  and  patriotic,  a  story  which 
should  leave  in  the  child's  mind  correct  impressions  about 
the  fundamental  factors  in  Pilgrim  History  as  well  as  nar- 
rate the  details  of  the  voyage  and  the  landing.  Professor 
Usher  has,  therefore,  retold  for  children  the  same  story  he 
has  so  carefully  substantiated  with  contemporary  evidence 
in  The  Pilgrims  and  Their  History. 

The  numerous  illustrations  are  authoritative  and  have  a 
direct  relation  to  the  main  facts  of  the  narrative. 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

FubliBhers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
^|!<»PU/\ppP}Nbf>'*  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  staniiud  below. 


MAR  1^1981 


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ffJ)P 


WAY  1  9  1983 


24139 


THE  LIBRARY , 

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